Chapter 28: Tempering Huo Yuhao
The Master's control over power is simply miraculous!
This pressure could actually be so precisely applied to the Young Master alone, while it only endured some minor aftershocks.
Gu Yuena, the Silver Dragon King's clone who had been standing quietly by the side, also had a strange light flash through her purple eyes. She clearly perceived that the essence of this pressure originated from the Golden Dragon King bloodline's absolute dominion over the material plane—an ultimate application of force.
'He can actually manipulate this power so finely to temper a physical body... it seems he truly cares about this human disciple.'
She thought to herself, gaining a deeper understanding of Lin Yu's methods at the same time.
"This is only the beginning."
Lin Yu's voice rang out clearly amidst the heavy pressure, carrying a cold hardness:
"Feel it! Adapt to it! Use your will to fight against it! Use your soul power to temper every inch of muscle, sinew, and bone! Forge your body into hundred-refined steel for me!"
He crooked his finger imperceptibly.
Whish—!
The originally piercing and bone-chilling cold wind of the Extreme North Wilderness seemed to receive an invisible pull. Carrying even purer ice-attribute energy, it acted like hundreds of millions of cold steel needles, ignoring the protection of Huo Yuhao's clothing to frantically stab into his pores!
This was not simple cold, but an extreme cold body-tempering refined by Lin Yu with divine power!
"Hiss—!"
Huo Yuhao's entire body trembled violently. He felt as if his blood was about to freeze, and a bone-piercing pain radiated from the depths of his marrow!
Gravity oppressed the physical form while extreme cold eroded the flesh. Scourged from both inside and out, the pain instantly magnified tenfold!
His face turned purple-blue in an instant, his teeth chattered, and his body shook uncontrollably as if it might collapse at any moment.
"Circulate your soul power! Use the soul power you instinctively absorbed! Move for me! Use soul power to wrap, melt, and guide this cold qi; use them to temper your meridians and strengthen your physique! Pain? It should hurt! No destruction, no construction! Hold on for me!"
Lin Yu's voice was like thunder exploding in Huo Yuhao's ears, carrying unquestionable command and a trace of cruel encouragement.
Huo Yuhao's eyes were bloodshot, and a beast-like low growl escaped his throat. He forced his nearly dissipating spirit to concentrate and frantically pushed the soul power within his body.
Pale gold soul power struggled to emerge from his body, attempting to envelop the invading cold qi. Every collision and fusion of soul power and cold qi brought tearing pain, but it also caused his meridians to expand slightly and his toughness to slowly increase under the extreme limit.
Time became incredibly long amidst the ultimate agony.
Fine beads of blood even began to seep from the surface of Huo Yuhao's body—the result of capillaries bursting under heavy pressure and extreme cold—only to be instantly frozen into tiny blood crystals by the cold qi.
Lin Yu watched expressionlessly, his golden pupils acting like the most precise instruments, constantly sensing every slight change in Huo Yuhao's body. He precisely adjusted the magnitude of gravity and the intensity of the cold qi, always maintaining it at the edge of the limit where Huo Yuhao was on the verge of collapse but would not truly damage his foundation.
'The physical foundation is too poor, but the willpower is acceptable... Skydream's massive spiritual foundation allows his endurance threshold to far exceed ordinary people...'
Lin Yu evaluated calmly,
'Relying solely on external pressure and cold tempering isn't fast enough...'
A golden light flashed in his eyes. A trace of extremely weak but inherently sublime Golden Dragon King bloodline aura was carefully stripped away by him. Like the purest catalyst, it quietly merged into the pressure and cold qi enveloping Huo Yuhao!
The moment this strand of aura entered his body, Huo Yuhao let out a tragic howl that didn't sound human!
It felt as if hundreds of millions of red-hot branding irons had simultaneously stabbed into his bone marrow! The sense of crushing weight from a higher life tier and the intense pain of transformation instantly swept through his entire body!
But at the same time, the soul power that had been struggling to circulate within him seemed to receive the strongest stimulation and suddenly boiled!
Under the stimulation of this supreme bloodline aura, his sinews, bones, and flesh—like parched earth receiving sweet rain—began to greedily absorb the external pressure and cold qi at an unprecedented speed, undergoing an even deeper level of transformation!
"Ah—!!!"
Huo Yuhao roared toward the sky, and blood tinged with gold seeped from his seven orifices!
Yet, within this inhuman torture, his body became more compact at a visible speed, like an iron billet being repeatedly forged. The muscle lines beneath his skin swelled and contracted in pain, and his bones emitted a subtle yet tough hum.
The Skydream Ice Worm paced anxiously in the spiritual sea but did not dare to cause any disturbance:
"Crazy! Everyone is crazy! Yuhao, hold on! Your master is trying to train you to death! But... this aura... so... so terrifying... and yet so enticing..."
The purple eyes of Gu Yuena's clone suddenly constricted!
She clearly captured that fleeting aura of the Golden Dragon King's source! Although it was weak to the extreme, that overbearing, ancient, and noble characteristic could not be mistaken!
'He actually... used his own source blood-qi as a guide to stimulate this human youth's life potential?'
This realization caused an even greater surge of emotion in her heart. This had already exceeded simple teaching; it was nearly a gift and an investment.
After an unknown amount of time—it felt as long as a century—a sharp light flashed in Lin Yu's eyes. The gravitational pressure and the guided extreme cold qi covering Huo Yuhao receded instantly like a tide.
Thud!
Huo Yuhao could no longer hold himself up. His knees buckled and he knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, each breath carrying blood foam and ice shards.
He was soaked through, in a wretched state, his muscles convulsing uncontrollably, his body seemingly completely hollowed out.
However, when he painstakingly raised his head, those Spirit Eyes were shockingly bright! Beneath the exhaustion was an unprecedented clarity and an inherent, tough sense of power, like newly formed refined iron!
He could feel that although his body was in immense pain, his bones and sinews seemed to have been recast, filled with explosive power potential. His meridians were also much tougher and wider, and the speed and smoothness of his soul power circulation had increased significantly!
More importantly, he felt that the connection between his spiritual power and his body seemed more coordinated.
"How do you feel?"
Lin Yu's voice returned to being indifferent.
Huo Yuhao struggled to stand up, succeeding only on the third attempt. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth; though his body was still trembling, his gaze was incredibly firm, even carrying a trace of fanaticism:
"Master... it hurts... it hurts a lot! But... disciple feels... reborn! Disciple can endure more!"
Looking at the unyielding spirit and the desire to become stronger in his eyes, a flicker of satisfaction passed through the depths of Lin Yu's gaze.
This kid indeed had a good temperament; he was a talent worth molding.
He stepped forward and lightly patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder.
A gentle yet incredibly pure surge of life energy instantly flooded into Huo Yuhao's body. Like a spring flowing over parched land, it rapidly repaired his damaged tissues and soothed the intense pain.