Chapter 15: Tempered Body 5th Layer

A hot month of summer passed by in the blink of an eye.

During this month, Lin Dong continued to secretly add the red-liquid from the stone talisman into Lin Xiao's medicine. Thanks to its miraculous properties, Lin Xiao's injuries had completely recovered, and his previously depressed and pale faced self had in turn faded into oblivion.

During this period of time, Lin Dong had likewise achieved remarkable progress in his own training. Thanks to the red-liquid from the stone talisman, the itching pain in his bones kept growing in intensity. Lin Dong could clearly feel that amidst the itching pain, the tenacity and strength of his body were rapidly increasing.

This sensation delighted Lin Dong because he knew that he was swiftly advancing to Tempered Body 5th Layer.

"Huff, huff."

In the cool and refreshing mountain cave, a shadow firmly supported his body using only both of his thumbs while his feet hovered off the surface of the ground. He relied solely on the strength of his thumbs to support his entire body as he moved his body up and down using his arms, what we would liken to a push-up. Sweat already drenched his clothes, yet new waves of sweat continuously dripped onto the floor, forming a giant puddle.

"Thud!"

Every muscle in his body was being fully utilized. Approximately half an hour later, Lin Dong finally collapsed in exhaustion. As he laid on the floor, hurriedly trying to catch his breath, an extreme aching sensation slowly spread throughout his body.

"Splash!"

Lin Dong clenched his teeth, as he struggled to lift his body and overcome the pain from the overwhelming exhaustion. Without taking off his clothes, he weakly fell into the rock pool.

As Lin Dong plopped into the rock pool, light-red bubbles surfaced immediately and tunneled into Lin Dong's body through its pores.

Lin Dong floated lazily in the rock pool, the current him only had the strength to gasp for breath. It felt as if every cell in his body was protesting against him. However, these "protests" instantly turned into greed as his cells hungrily devoured the light-red liquid that burrowed into his body.

Lin Dong closed his eyes as he enjoyed this nourishing sensation. Just as he stretched his body, it suddenly began to shake uncontrollably. A sharp pain reverberated from within his bones and swiftly spread out to his entire body.

This sudden pain caused Lin Dong to clench his jaw in agony. Yet a look of excitement surfaced in his eyes.

"Breakthrough!"

This sensation was exactly what Lin Dong was anticipating. His chance for a breakthrough had finally arrived!

The pain swiftly spread throughout his body. It was akin to someone drilling through every bone in his body all at once. However, in that instance, Lin Dong could clearly feel every bone in his body gradually becoming stronger and tougher!

The sharp pain left as quickly as it arrived. In less than five minutes, the pain gradually weakened.

After the sharp pain dissipated, Lin Dong felt spirited and full of energy. As he leapt out of the rock pool, he stretched his body, causing a crisp crack to sound out from within. Right now, he seemed to have grown taller and looked much fitter than before.

"Pa Pa Pa Pa..."

As soon as he landed, Lin Dong immediately executed his familiar set of Penetrating Fist moves as a series of crisp sound clearly ricocheted in the mountain cave. From the faint echos, one could tell that the force behind his fists, seemed to have grown to a whole new level.

"Thump!"

As the ninth echo sounded out, Lin Dong smashed his fist onto a huge boulder. Immediately, a few cracks appeared on the boulder. It seems that both his strength and power had been greatly enhanced after reaching Tempered Body 5th Layer. Truly incomparable to the 4th Layer.

Upon witnessing this scene, Lin Dong grinned. Just as he was about to rest, a thought sprung up in his mind. Maintaining his form, he closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the mysterious sensation surging through his bones.

As he enjoyed the sensation, Lin Dong's body adjusted and moved in conjunction with the flow of energy coursing through his body. Even on the skin under his sleeves, tiny ripples started to surface.

Every muscle in his body moved in unison as waves of force surged forth and gathered at Lin Dong's arm.

"Pa!"

When the waves of force reached his fist, Lin Dong eyes suddenly flew open as an extremely tiny echo quietly vibrated out from within his body.

This echo was not loud, yet it was packed with an immense force!

"Bang!"

As the force was finally about to arrive at the tip of his fist, Lin Dong took in a deep breath. Releasing a low shout, he violently punched the solid boulder before him. A low echo sounded out as the cracks began to spread all across the boulder. Finally, it exploded with a massive bang.

"Such fearsome might!"

Lin Dong stared at the rubble which was once a huge boulder, a look of disbelief on his face. The force displayed was virtually comparable to that of Lower Category Level 3 martial arts!

"So this is the true power of the tenth echo from Penetrating Fist!"

Moments later, Lin Dong finally regained his senses. A look of excitement bubbled in his eyes. This was the first time he properly executed the tenth echo! He now understood why it was so difficult to master the tenth echo: it possessed such a terrifying strength.

According to Lin Dong's calculations, if he encountered Lin Hong now, he could rely on this Penetrating Fist tenth echo to fight to a standstill with the latter. Even in the Lin Family, Level 3 martial arts were rare to come by. Plus among the current younger generation, there was no one who was capable enough to learn them.

"Heh heh, Lin Hong, just you wait......"

As he recalled the vile manner in which Lin Hong casually assumed Qing Tan to be his possession, Lin Dong involuntarily tightened his fist. With a sneer, he cast his gaze towards the rock pool as he eyebrows knitted tightly together. Over this period of time, he realized that the effects of the diluted red-liquid from the stone talisman had begun to wear off and was now not as potent as before.

"Seems like the diluted red-liquid is no longer able to satisfy my demands. If I want to quickly advance to Tempered Body 6th Layer, I may have to use the red-liquid directly."

Tempered Body 6th Layer can be considered as the most important checkpoint for a new practitioner at the initial stages. At the 6th Layer, one can finally refine a Yuan Power Seed. Once that is accomplished, one can then be considered as a true practitioner!

Therefore, the significance of this step cannot be overlooked.

As Lin Dong's expression turned serious, he took out a transparent bottle from his sleeves. It was already half filled with the crimson red liquid from the stone talisman.

As he gazed at the bountiful amount of red-liquid, the corners of Lin Dong's mouth finally turned upwards to form a smile of contentment.