“Wait, what?” Fang Lin creased his eye brows as he received Old Man’s instructions. He gave him an unbelieving look as he said,
“Are you really sure that your method will work? It sounds a little… crude to me.”
“It might look crude to you, but I can assure you that it will work in your current situation.” Old Man said as he stared at the Ebony River, which was just flowing near them. “The corrosive properties of the Ebony River will be more than enough to temper that body of yours.”
“……”
Fang Lin stayed quiet for a minute as he ruminated on the instructions given to him by Old Man.
According to Old Man, the Black Liquid of the Ebony River actually has an extremely corrosive property that can easily corrode anything.
Of course, Fang Lin already knew about that, as the Crown Prince told about this fact to him already.
This corrosive property of the Ebony River was the reason for the struggling lifestyle in the Ebony River Kingdom.
Previous generations of Demon Kings have tried to remove the treasure, but all of them failed to do anything with it.
That just shows how overbearing and mighty the Ebony River was!
“You… you want me to take a dip in the Ebony River?” Fang Lin looked at Old Man for confirmation, as if he could not believe what was just said to him.
“Yes, just do that, and your body will have a chance of getting stronger.” Old Man smugly replied. “Didn’t you want to get stronger right now? This is your chance!”
“……”
Even if Fang Lin was brave against dangers, he was still hesitant to plunge his body in the Ebony River.
After all, anything that was plunged in the Ebony River will all end up corroded to nothingness!
Even the sturdiest metals will fizzle out once they are in the Ebony River!
Fang Lin even tried to observe the Ebony River with his divine sense earlier.
But to his horror, he found out that even his divine sense was corroded by the Ebony River!
If something like that can be affected, then Fang Lin’s body will surely be affected too!
Even if Fang Lin has some life force that can restore his body, he’s sure that his body will be destroyed by the Ebony River first before he could even heal himself!
“Have your mind gone senile already?” Old Man muttered angrily as he tried to bop Fang Lin’s head. “Didn’t you remember what happened earlier? Why don’t you use that for your advantage?”
“Oh right! How could I forget that!” Fang Lin smacked his forehead as he remembered the clash between Old Meng and the Black Elephant earlier.
Since the Black Elephant was made up of the liquid of Ebony River, then the Black Elephant must have some extremely corrosive properties too.
But Old Meng, who directly clashed with the Black Elephant’s foot, was actually unscathed!
“I get it now…” Fang Lin said as he rubbed his hands excitedly.
“The property of the Golden River was to counteract the corrosive properties of the Ebony River… My guess is correct, right Old Meng?”
There was a shimmer of light that came from Fang Lin’s storage, and out of it came Old Meng, who was in her enchanting appearance.
Fang Lin tried to not stare at Old Meng’s body that much as he waited for her answer.
“Your guess is right, Young Master.” Old Meng politely replied as she fiddled with her spear. “The essence of the Golden River was to nurture, while the essence of the Ebony River was to destroy. When those two rivers meet, they will mutually neutralize their properties.”
“Yes, if that is that way then, then it might work…” Fang Lin muttered as he gazed at Old Meng. He then gave her a solemn gaze as he asked her,
“Old Meng, if you were to be submerged in the Ebony River right now, how long can you actually last?”
“At best, I can last for 4 hours.” Old Meng replied grimly as she tightened her grip on her spear. “After all, I am just made up of few amounts of Golden Liquid…. Young Master, why are you asking me about that, anyway?”
“Why? It’s because I have a plan right now, and I need you for my plan to succeed.” Fang Lin said as he approached the nervous Old Meng.
He put his mouth near her left ear as he whispered some things to her.
“Are you sure about that, Young Master?” This time, it was Old Meng who looked extremely uncertain. “If I mess up even a little, you could die…”
“Well, I think you are not that mediocre to just mess up, right?” Fang Lin replied cheekily as he tugged Old Meng to go with him.
In the end, Old Meng could only wryly smile as she followed Fang Lin on his destination.
*******************
After 10 minutes of suiting up, a new Fang Lin appeared.
Right now, the entirety of Fang Lin’s body was covered with a golden sheet of liquid.
It looked extremely frail, but if someone were to touch it, they will find that this golden sheet covering Wang Hao was actually tough.
“I get what you are going with that outfit Fang Lin, but can’t you think of any better ways to make your appearance a little more appealing?” Old Man complained as he saw Fang Lin’s look. “You look like someone who was about to be cooked, golden style.”
“Oh come on, Master…” Fang Lin’s voice came out from within the golden sheet, which sounded a little embarrassed.
“I do not aim for appearance here. What I want is a way to protect myself as I slowly temper my body in the Ebony River.”
“Well, your current form now might actually work.” Old Man said as he let out a reluctant nod. He gave him a smile as he said,
“If you are ready to do it now, then do it. Time waits for no one.”‘
“Here I go then!” Fang Lin let out a shout as he performed a cannonball dive towards the Ebony River.
“Bloop.”
There are no splashing sounds that occurred as Fang Lin sank through the Ebony River like it was viscous liquid.
Old Man could only watch anxiously as he waited for Fang Lin to succeed.
“Fang Lin, if you fail here, I am sure that I will also be corroded by this Ebony River! That would be really bad!” Old Man’s only choice of action right now was to sigh as he waited for Fang Lin’s success.
*********************
The plan that was proposed by Old Man was actually just simple.
Use the corrosive property of the Ebony River to destroy Fang Lin’s body, and then use the Golden River to negate the corrosion, which will let Fang Lin’s body recover by itself quickly.
By doing that, Fang Lin’s body will be in a cycle of destruction and creation, which will strengthen Fang Lin’s body every time he undergoes a cycle.
Not only that, but Fang Lin’s duality concept of Creation-Destruction will also receive a massive boost here, which will just further increase Fang Lin’s strength.
With Fang Lin now plunged in the Ebony River, the only thing that he needed to do was to survive!
But can Fang Lin get through the pain of being corroded by the Ebony River for multiple times?
Well, Fang Lin can, as he already had a plan for that!
“….”
Right when Fang Lin’s body was deep in the Ebony River, he tried to mimic a mental state which he had already reached before.
This robotic state allowed Fang Lin to fully ignore the pain by his injuries, which eventually allowed him to break through the Third Stage easily!
But that robotic state was caused by a seal in Fang Lin’s mind.
With that seal gone already, there is no way for Fang Lin to actually be in a Robotic State again.
The best thing that Fang Lin can do was to just mimic this mental state at the best that he can!
It took Fang Lin some practice, but right now, Fang Lin can actually lessen the pain that he can feel by around 50%.
With that kind of impressive pain reduction, Fang Lin thought that he can already pass the Ebony River tempering without any hitch.
But as it turns out, 50% was not enough.
“Ahh!!!” Fang Lin let out agonized shouts as he felt the pain all over his body. Even his soul can feel the pain!
“S**t, so this Ebony River is this potent huh.” Now, Fang Lin can feel why the Ebony River was a frightening corrosive agent.
Just right now, it is corroding Fang Lin’s body and soul, both at the same time! If it were not for the protection from Old Meng, Fang Lin would be really a goner now!
“Ha!”
The symbol ?, which was residing in Fang Lin’s Duality Godly Divine Beast Core, suddenly let out a glow as it expelled large amounts of life force which went towards Fang Lin’s soul and body.
Both of these parts, which looked battered under the assault of corrosion, began to recover with the assistance of the life force.
At the instant that they fully recovered, Fang Lin asked for Old Meng to weaken her protection.
“Hiss…” Fang Lin then once more felt the same soul-searing pain that just made him want to cry.
“S**t, I shall finish this training montage and once I am done with this, I will beat that Old Man up!”