104: Chapter 104 I'm Not a Normal Person

However, before attempting to cultivate the forbidden method, Tang Long needed to break the newly forged Spirit Ring once again.

In just a few short minutes, his cultivation realm regressed once more.

The greatest difficulty of the Open-Ring Forbidden Method was energy conflict, but the conflict between different attributes varied in intensity. Even though Tang Long had plenty of confidence, he wouldn't overlook this point.

So for his first attempt, he chose fire spiritual energy and blood spiritual energy.

That day, when the High Priest of the Songcheng Sect had possessed Lu Xiaohu, he had said something mysterious to him.

Blood and fire share the same source.

This was actually a common phrase of respect within the Red God Sect, as the Red God held dominion over the laws of blood and fire.

These two types of spiritual energy indeed had a relatively high compatibility.

Even so, the process of the forbidden method was not very smooth.

The conflict between different attributes of spiritual energy still existed. When Tang Long condensed the first segment of the blood Spirit Ring and tried to switch to the fire attribute, the spiritual energy inside his body instantly went haywire, causing him multiple internal injuries.

Fortunately, it only caused over seven hundred points of damage.

His base health was as high as 14,000, reaching 18,000 after class bonuses; he could withstand this kind of damage more than twenty times. Condensing the double Spirit Rings for the first time should only take about ten attempts, so he should have plenty of margin.

However, he soon discovered that he had underestimated the difficulty.

The damage caused by each instance of spiritual energy chaos was actually increasing!

[Damage taken, vitality -814!]

[Damage taken, vitality -939!]

[Damage taken, vitality -1056!]

...

By the time he reached the eleventh energy switch, with the ring on the verge of closing, his vitality was down to just over five thousand.

Tang Long realized that under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn't have been able to pull through.

At least according to the manual's description, the damage from this final Spirit Blast would be at least five to ten times stronger than before. Even if his health doubled again, this single burst might cause his body to explode.

But then again, I'm no normal person.

I have invulnerability.

Within the space of his Dantian, at the very instant the Spirit Ring was about to connect, a thunderous boom suddenly erupted. His ears felt as if they were filled with a howling storm, and a massive repulsive force broke out between the two types of spiritual energy, causing the entire Spirit Ring to snap link by link.

Tang Long instantly activated Divine Guard, used the Snake King's heart blood directly, and simultaneously gripped a handful of fire spirit stones to absorb them frantically.

The 3.5 seconds of Divine Guard didn't seem long, but it precisely covered the final massive Spirit Blast, resulting in zero damage.

Under the pressure of this even more powerful, newly injected spiritual energy, the broken links rapidly reconnected on their own. Two parallel, concentric Spirit Rings—one inner and one outer—quickly took shape and gradually stabilized.

[Open-Ring Forbidden Method cultivation successful!]

[Open-Ring Forbidden Method: For every additional Spirit Ring, the spiritual energy limit increases by 100%. The Spirit Ring attributes activate a blessing effect; the maximum blessing limit is the level of the highest cultivation technique for that attribute multiplied by spirituality.]

[You have gained the Special Skill: Open-Ring Forbidden Method LV2! Spiritual energy increased by 100%. Attribute blessings activated: Blood {Max 21}, Fire {Max 21}.]

[Spiritual energy attributes replenished. Special Skill Barbarian Blood Tyrant Body effect restored. Skill Fire Eye effect restored.]

When Tang Long finally caught his breath and reopened his eyes, he saw Qin Bing and Lu Xiaohu standing beside him, staring at him with looks of extreme shock.

“Why aren't you two sleeping in the middle of the night? Why are you staring at me?”

Lu Xiaohu asked stutteringly, “Tang... Big Brother Tang, are... are you okay?”

“Me? What could be wrong with me?”

Qin Bing pointed at him, “Old Tang, you’re covered in blood and you made such a huge commotion. Are you really okay?”

“Was the commotion that big?”

“It was huge, like muffled thunder. We thought it was an earthquake. Some neighbors outside were just cursing a moment ago.”

“Go back to sleep, I’m going to wash up.”

When he reached the bathroom and looked in the small mirror, Tang Long couldn't help but frown.

His face was caked in blood, as was his body; he did look a bit miserable.

However, this cultivation method was indeed extraordinary, granting a special skill directly.

Its utility went far beyond attribute compatibility; doubling your spiritual energy for every extra Spirit Ring was an excellent effect.

And then there was the attribute blessing. This meant...

Tang Long slowly sensed and channeled the power. A few minutes later, he slowly raised a finger, and a small flame suddenly jumped from his fingertip.

————

The next day, as soon as he arrived at school and before he could even enter the classroom, Tang Long was intercepted at the door by Jiang Xiaolan.

“Tang Long, have you made up your mind?”

Tang Long felt a bit helpless. “Can you really agree to any condition I raise?”

Jiang Xiaolan nodded. “It should be possible.”

“I need a special kind of cultivation method—the kind that significantly improves certain attributes after training, like strength, spirit, or vitality.”

Jiang Xiaolan was a bit surprised. “This...”

“Is it not possible?”

“It’s not that it’s impossible. It’s just that I’m not sure if we have any, nor do I know which ones have the effects you want. If there are no cultivation methods, would medicine work? Medicine is easier for me to obtain.”

“Medicine?” Tang Long was also surprised.

“Don't you know that the Jiang Family's second-largest asset is pharmaceuticals? In Song City, over seventy percent of the hospitals and pharmaceutical factories are owned by my family.”

Tang Long’s face twitched as he silently cursed her for being a stinking capitalist.

“Fine, I guess I really am ill-informed. As for the condition, a cultivation method is still best. If it's medicine... it must be strong enough and special enough.”

“Very well,” Jiang Xiaolan continued. “But I have a requirement. From now on, you cannot skip classes anymore, especially sparring and training sessions. Time is running out, and I hope you won't waste any more time in the library.”

Waste?

Tang Long was almost laughed by her words.

“Student Jiang Xiaolan, I also have a requirement. If you really want me to take that championship, don't come here setting rules and boundaries for me. Haven't you heard that knowledge is power? I love reading; the more I read, the stronger I get. If I didn't read, I wouldn't even be able to beat you.”

Jiang Xiaolan was stunned by his bluff. “Really?”

“Of course it's true.”

“But you still have to participate in our joint training so I can keep track of your strength, right?”

“Didn't you see my strength last night? I’m about the same as Qin Bing right now. If no one disturbs my reading, I might be stronger than him in a few days. Anything else? If not, I need to go inside and read.”

Although she had received an answer from Tang Long, Jiang Xiaolan still couldn't feel happy.

Since her earliest memories, no matter where she went, she was praised and complimented. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was loved by everyone.

As she gradually grew older, she realized that the praise from others might have been a bit hollow, existing only because of the Jiang Family's background.

When she understood this, her self-esteem took a heavy blow. So, she became more and more sensible and worked harder and harder, even practicing martial arts against her parents' wishes and getting into the First Specialized Academy with the best grades.

In Class 9, her grades in all subjects remained the best, and she was elected class monitor. Many people called her a genius.

She used to think she was excellent enough, but compared to the members of the White Clothing Society, or even Lu Xiaohu and Tang Long who had just gained citizenship from the wilderness, she suddenly realized that she wasn't actually a genius, and might not even be considered excellent.

Lu Xiaohu had said that every battle for survival in the wilderness was a battle of life and death, which was why he was stronger than the students in the city.

And another sentence Tang Long said last night had kept her thinking all night.

“Men die for wealth, birds die for food.”

Thinking of Tang Long, covered in blood on the arena for just a little bit of money, the cruelty within those eight words made her shudder.

She felt she had tried her best to understand and accommodate people like Tang Long, but just now, in Tang Long's eyes, she still saw nothing but annoyance and disdain.

It was like the natural contempt the strong had for the weak.

Walking into the classroom in low spirits, Wei Lin approached her directly with two boys, while Ming Qi and Wang Rongrong also hurried to her side.

“Jiang Xiaolan, you’re something else. You actually sent someone to ruin my business.”