Chapter 67: Tempering Internal Organs

  "These two demonic beasts, at most, just live in Flame Valley and get stained with some fire properties, what kind of nature can they have?"

  "What a lack of knowledge!" The old man with the pipe finally found his words, "Snakes are lustful and bears are irritable. When these two types of demons appear, they need red tassels to enhance their abilities. It's not just that snakes and bears in the demon world are like this, but also humans who have snake or bear totems will be influenced by their characteristics. Simply put, it means being lustful!"

  Puffing on his pipe, Old Man Pipe had a sinister look on his face as he spoke ominously.

  "What a load of nonsense!" Hu Gao almost jumped up in anger, his totem was a snake, a mutated snake at that, and his second totem was a dragon. If he were to say it like the old man did, wouldn't that be "Which one is promiscuous? I'm promiscuous?"

  It's really exaggerated! He is just a young man with great ideals after all.

  "Old man, who said such nonsense? If you want the red silk fruit, find a more legitimate reason, I'm not unwilling to give it."

  "You were willing to give, why didn't you say so earlier? You've wasted my effort and so much saliva!" Old Master Smoker exclaimed, "Kid, I won't let you lose out either. I'll exchange something you need for the Red Tassel Fruit."

  "What treasure?" Hu Gao's ears perked up at this, and he still said with a smile, "Could it be that you've been smoking too much and really need the Red Twine Fruit?"

  The old man with a pipe glared at Hu Gao, stopped talking, and pulled out a wooden box from his chest. He opened the lid, revealing a black flower inside.

  In an instant, a wave of fire-attribute yuan force fluctuation was emitted, and the air temperature around him rose significantly. Hu Gao only felt a hot wave rushing towards his face.

  "Hey kid, wanna trade this thing?"

  "What is this thing?"

  Hu Gaobrow furrowed slightly and hastily looked into the wooden box, "This is a... lotus flower? Why is it black?"

  "This is Hei Huo Lian Hua. You need it." said Yandou Da Ye with a pleased expression.

  "Black Lotus?"

  Hu Gao also reacted, this thing seems to be the treasure that many warriors in Flame Valley have been desperately competing for recently. It is said that a black fire lotus flower contains pure fire energy, which can increase the physical strength of an ordinary Condensation Realm seventh-stage warrior by two times. If he were to refine the energy inside...

  Thinking of his current physical strength, Hu Gao shook his head. What was most beneficial to his body should still be the Dragon's Breath inside Xiao Wu's body.

  As for these elixirs or pills, Hu Gao didn't think that absorbing them would have much of an effect.

  But somehow exchanging red tassels with this old man makes Hu Gao feel like he's being cheated.

  "Is Hongying fruit really worth that much? Are you willing to trade Black Fire Lotus for it?" Hu Gao asked skeptically.

  "Hei Huo Lian is useful to you, Hong Ying Guo is useful to me. Young man, are you willing to exchange or not?" Yandou Da Ye stared at Hu Gao with a somewhat threatening tone.

  Grandpa Pipe really cares about the Red Tassel Fruit, Black Fire Lotus on his own body, at most just take it out to sell for some money, while the Red Tassel Fruit is on Hu Gao's body, taking it out may not even sell for a good price, but giving it to himself is different, taking it to exchange with those old buddies, what comes back is human feelings.

  "What if I don't change?" Hu Gao asked tentatively.

  "I'll take action myself!" The old man with the pipe extinguished Hu Gao's small abacus with one sentence.

  "Swap, definitely swap!" Hu Gao nodded immediately, but having grown up like this, it was the first time he had been robbed, and Hu Gao cursed the old man with the pipe in his heart.

  Damn you for eating the red tassel fruit and grinding the iron pillar into a needle!

  Hu Gao didn't show any emotion, quickly exchanged the Black Fire Lotus with Old Man Smoke Pipe, threw out a sentence "Take care, old man!", then slipped away without looking back and disappeared into the forest.

  Hu Gao ran for twenty or thirty li in one breath.

  "Boss, this Black Fire Lotus seems to contain some fire energy that might be helpful to me."

  Just as Wu was hesitating and wondering if it was worth exchanging, whether he should go back to find the old man to settle accounts, Xiao Wu suddenly transmitted a message.

  "Is it helpful for you?"

  Hú Gāo's expression changed, "What kind of help? Will it make the dragon energy in your body grow?"

  "Big brother..."

  Xiao Wu really wants to let Hu Gao not always remember the dragon's aura, if there is enough dragon's aura, I will definitely not be stingy. "Boss, the fire energy in this place is relatively pure, and human warriors can absorb it to refine their body, strengthen their flesh and blood, and enhance their physical strength. However, the internal organs of human warriors are very fragile, and the fire energy can only refine the flesh and blood, but not the internal organs. Even if it's a demon beast, they won't be able to withstand it. But we divine beasts are different, our internal organs are much stronger than those of demon beasts, this fire energy is just right for me to refine my internal organs."

  "Tempering internal organs?"

  Hu Gao's eyes lit up, although he didn't know how strong Xiao Wu's physical strength was, but he could be sure that it was absolutely extremely strong, at least he himself couldn't compare to it. However, if he encountered a powerful opponent who was stronger than himself in battle, even if his body could withstand the attack without getting hurt, his internal organs wouldn't be able to withstand it either. But if Xiao Wu's internal organs were also exceptionally strong, then that would be equivalent to having an unbeatable little strongman, and at that time, not to mention how much his combat strength would increase, at least his endurance would be quite terrifying.

  Although I'm not strong in combat, my defensive power is terrifying. You can't hurt me, and that's also part of one's strength.

  "Yes, boss. This thing is a bit insufficient for me to refine my flesh and blood, but it's just right for refining my internal organs." Little Five nodded repeatedly.

  "Go ahead and try it then..."

  Hu Gao didn't think much and directly handed the Black Fire Lotus to Xiao Wu.

  Although Xiao Wu was his contract Totem, he had already treated Xiao Wu as a younger brother. Whatever good things he thought of, he would also think of Xiao Wu. If he had known that the Black Fire Lotus was helpful to Xiao Wu, he wouldn't have considered it and would have given it directly to Xiao Wu.

  "Wow..."

  Xiao Wu happily received the Black Fire Lotus and, unlike other warriors who slowly absorbed it, he directly swallowed it in two or three mouthfuls. Afterwards, he even rubbed his belly, "The taste of this Black Fire Lotus is indeed not bad, no wonder I found it smelled so good just now."

  Hu Gao was quite unimpressed with Xiao Wu's arrogant behavior and said bluntly, "Cut the crap, quickly absorb the flame energy and see what happens."

  Originally, Hu Gao only planned to enter the Dragon's Spine Mountains and continuously hunt and kill demonic beasts to obtain their cores and increase his cultivation. After all, this was the real benefit.

  But if the Black Fire Lotus can be of help to him or Xiao Wu, he plans to make a trip to the Flame Valley to get some Black Fire Lotuses and Black Fire Lotus Pods.

  "Don't worry, boss, this is the first time I'm operating this furnace, it may take some more time, but give me an hour at most and it'll be almost done."

  Xiao Wu did not dare say more and quietly began to refine his internal organs.

  "It's not just Xiao Wu, if I had the chance, I would also want to temper my internal organs."

  Hu Gao didn't disturb Xiao Wu, and instead found a place to sit down cross-legged. For martial artists, the most important thing is their physical body, which can be divided into external and internal aspects. The external aspect refers to flesh and blood, while the internal aspect refers to internal organs. Flesh and blood are easy to temper, but internal organs are more difficult because they are too fragile. If one's energy control is slightly off, it's easy to get injured. However, if one can successfully temper their internal organs, it would be extremely significant for martial artists, at the very least allowing them to become nearly indestructible...

  Because of the jade pendant's rapid healing effect, Hu Gao is quite interested in this little strong who can't be killed. Even if he can't beat others later on, at least he won't get himself killed. What's there to fear? You want to fight, go ahead and fight, anyway you can't kill me. Once my strength increases, I'll immediately turn around and take down the enemy...

  In the next hour, Hu Gao absorbed all the remaining postnatal demon pills, but the final result still left him feeling extremely frustrated, because his yuan force cultivation was still stuck at the seventh stage of the Condensed Shadow Realm, and he was still short of breaking through to the eighth stage of the Condensed Shadow Realm by just a hair's breadth...

  "If it were an ordinary Seventh-Order Condensed Shadow Realm warrior, absorbing so much demonic dan energy would be enough to break through to the Eighth Order of the Condensed Shadow Realm, and might even reach the Ninth Order. But I..."

  A hint of arrogant curve rose at the corner of Hu Gao's mouth. If he wanted to, just this amount of elixir would be enough to let him break through to the 9th layer of the Condensed Shadow Realm, and it was absolutely impossible for him to have any problems with the 8th layer. However, he didn't choose to break through, but instead suppressed his Yuan power cultivation. Now, he planned to let his Yuan power be on the same level as his physical strength, because only then could he perfectly control the combined power of both.

  However, these yuan forces were not wasted. Not only did they lay a very solid foundation for him, but most of the yuan forces were also stored in various parts of his body, ready to be called upon at any time when needed. This benefit may seem insignificant on the surface, but it is absolutely much greater than his current breakthrough.

  "Wow, the fire energy in here is really insufficient, my internal organs haven't strengthened much yet..."

  At this time, Xiao Wu's complaining voice sounded from a distance.

  Hu Gao stood up and walked towards Xiao Wu, "Xiao Wu, have you finished your cultivation? How's the effect?"

  "Whoosh!"

  Xiao Wu transformed into a golden shadow and flew over, landing on Hu Gao's shoulder.

  "Boss, the effect of absorbing fire energy to temper my internal organs is pretty good, but there's really too little fire energy contained in this Black Fire Lotus. My internal organs haven't strengthened much and it's already gone... Sigh..." Little Five said with some disappointment, but his pair of golden small eyes had a hint of delight, looks like the harvest from his one hour of cultivation wasn't small either.

  "It seems that the Black Fire Lotus has been of great help to Xiao Wu, in that case, I might as well make a trip to Flame Valley. According to Qi Hong, there are many experts gathered there now, and I'd like to see just how high these so-called experts have reached."

  Hu Gao muttered to himself, then turned his head to ask Xiao Wu: "Xiao Wu, how about we don't focus on hunting and killing demonic beasts for their demon cores from now on? Instead, let's go straight to the Flame Valley to find the Black Fire Lotus Dan and the Black Fire Lotus Spore?"

  "Wow, that's great too. What our divine beast cares about most is the flesh, and I don't really care about the demon pill. Hunting and killing demon beasts is actually a bit of a waste of time, and as my cultivation grows, low-grade demon pills are no longer very helpful to me. Unfortunately, it's hard to find those spiritual medicines or treasures that contain a lot of demonic energy, otherwise it would save a lot of time."