Who wants to become a god? Aren't you all forcing me?

#427 - Chapter 426 Two Methods

Xiang Nanzhi responded without any hesitation, "That's right."

Sitting at his desk, Li Chenqiu seemed to have heard something incomprehensible and remained silent for a long time.

"What's wrong?"

Li Chenqiu's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he raised his hand, gesturing, "Wait a moment, let me sort this out first. Are you saying that the Ying Corporation will help us handle the remaining matters?"

"Yes, wasn't I clear enough?"

"That's not right. You said earlier that if someone from a certain conglomerate did something and a Purge Card was dropped, the conglomerate behind them would take care of everything. But we aren't part of a conglomerate!"

Li Chenqiu voiced his confusion.

He really couldn't understand how the Underworld was connected to a conglomerate. Shouldn't the two be like fire and water?

Xiang Nanzhi tapped her head. "This… this isn't important. You just need to know that the Underworld and the Ying Corporation have reached a cooperation and will assist us. I'll tell you the rest when the time is right."

"Cooperation?" Li Chenqiu nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Xiang Nanzhi suspiciously. "Do you really know the specifics of the cooperation?"

"Hey, hey, hey, what's with that suspicious look and questioning tone? As a revived Eleventh Forbidden, am I not even qualified to know about such a small matter?"

Xiang Nanzhi's tone was particularly sharp, like a lit powder keg.

Seeing the slight redness in her ears, Li Chenqiu already had his answer. He smiled and replied,

"You misunderstood me. How could I have such an absurd idea? It's getting late, I won't disturb your rest. Good night and sweet dreams."

With that, Li Chenqiu waved with a smile and quickly hung up the phone.

...

In the days that followed, Li Chenqiu successfully broke through to the Sixth Forbidden. Duan Xian's death, as Xiang Nanzhi had said, didn't cause any ripples.

Because of the unease in his heart, Li Chenqiu asked around about Duan Xian's whereabouts, and the answers he received were very consistent.

"Chief Duan Xian? I'm not too sure, but I heard from others that he seems to have gone on some secret mission."

When Li Chenqiu tried to investigate who this "others" was, he always ended up in the same dead end, so he simply stopped investigating, as long as he was sure it wouldn't involve him.

...

Saturday, 11 PM, Li Chenqiu's villa.

"Hoo…"

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Li Chenqiu wearily opened his eyes, supporting his chest with one hand to steady his slightly swaying body.

Every night after dinner, he would return to his room and circulate his ability through the energy-tempering lines. Each time he completed a cycle, the power of his ability would increase by a tiny bit.

If he persisted, his strength would significantly improve in a few years, but this was too slow for Li Chenqiu.

"I wonder if Fu Yuesheng has a way to speed things up."

Thinking this, Li Chenqiu took out the Finishing Touch Brush and the Winter Night Scroll from his spatial ring. After locking the doors and windows and turning off the lights, he jumped straight in.

The snow was still falling, the wind was still strong, the small wooden house was as it always was, everything was as it had been a few days ago.

As soon as Li Chenqiu fell from the spatial rift onto the snow, Fu Yuesheng, who was in the wooden house, opened his eyes. A hint of surprise flashed between his brows as he said,

"I thought you wouldn't be back for a while, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon."

Li Chenqiu flashed in front of the wooden house and looked at Fu Yuesheng. "I didn't want to disturb you, but I encountered some problems while tempering my ability and there's really no way for me to solve it on my own."

Fu Yuesheng slightly raised his head. "Mental fatigue, pain, and itching are normal. The path to becoming stronger is naturally not too smooth."

Li Chenqiu shook his head. "It's not that problem."

"Hmm?" Fu Yuesheng looked puzzled. "What is the problem then?"

"This energy tempering is just too slow. Right now, circulating through the energy-tempering lines twice a day is my limit. Any more and I'll feel dizzy, and the effects aren't significant either.

Do you have a way to speed up my energy tempering, so that I can obtain a greater improvement in a shorter amount of time?" Li Chenqiu looked at Fu Yuesheng expectantly.

Fu Yuesheng replied with a somewhat displeased expression, "Grasping at more than one can hold loses all. The road must be taken step by step in order to move forward steadily. Pulling up seedlings to help them grow only backfires."

"But the problem now is that the thing you gave me is very mediocre. Spending six hours a day on energy tempering, more than two thousand hours a year, which translates to more than ninety days, with that time, wouldn't burning, killing, and looting be faster than energy tempering?"

"Boy, this is laying the foundation for you, do you understand my good intentions?"

"Laying the foundation is what a teacher should do, you and I are just partners. Your goal is to leave this place, my goal is to quickly become stronger. Pulling up seedlings to help them grow is what you should be doing."

Hearing this, the expression on Fu Yuesheng's face froze slightly, and he tilted his head to look aside.

That's right! My purpose is to quickly help him improve his strength, isn't pulling up seedlings to help them grow what I should be doing? Why did it inexplicably turn into a student-teacher relationship?

After understanding everything, Fu Yuesheng returned his gaze, his expression no longer as serious as a teacher, and said,

"The speed of energy tempering is closely related to the soul. In simple terms, the higher the soul strength, the faster the energy tempering, and the greater the increase in ability."

Li Chenqiu asked, "How to quickly increase soul strength?"

Fu Yuesheng held up two fingers. "Two ways. The first way is to cause drastic fluctuations in one's emotions, such as experiencing a major blow or encountering someone very fearful, this…"

"Next one, that's unlikely." Li Chenqiu interrupted directly.

"I think so too." Fu Yuesheng nodded in agreement and continued, "The second method is simpler and more direct. If soul strength is not enough, then devour the souls of others to strengthen oneself."

Clap!

Li Chenqiu clasped his hands together. "That's good, I like simple and direct. How do I devour the souls of others?"

"When I descended into this world, in order to gather information faster, I brought a mystic artifact called the Soul-Devouring Pearl. The function of this object is very simple, which is to devour souls and obtain the memories of others.

However, the side effects of this mystic artifact are also very large. Instantly obtaining the memories of someone else's entire life is like walking through someone else's decades of life in a second, which is a considerable burden on both the body and the soul.

If the Soul-Devouring Pearl is overused, the consequences are unimaginable! At best, one's personality will change drastically and one's mind will be unclear. At worst, one will develop multiple personality disorder and completely lose self-awareness."

Fu Yuesheng's expression was solemn as he earnestly instructed:

"If you use the Soul-Devouring Pearl to devour the souls of others, remember not to choose someone stronger than yourself. Devour one soul a month is enough, I don't want my partner to become an idiot."