Chapter Fifty-Four: Fleecing the System

At this moment, Su Ling was practicing internal breathing, a faint smile curling the corners of his lips as he joyfully and meticulously savored the wondrous process of his soul, acting as a crucible, continuously growing stronger.

Su Ling's current soul-forging martial technique was at the second realm: using the physical body as iron and the soul as a furnace, continuously hammering the flesh from the inside out to make it ever more resilient, unyielding, and indestructible.

Yet, regrettably, even though this technique exerted its utmost strength, it simply could not make a dent in Su Ling's extraordinarily monstrous physique. Left with no other choice, it pivoted, gathering long-suppressed fury and directing it straight at the soul-furnace...

If the soul as a furnace could possess thoughts, it would undoubtedly wear the terrified expression of a Shiba Inu thinking, "Please don't come over here."

After all, as a crucible meant for smelting raw iron, it already possessed the power of the Heavenly Dao.

This rare and peerless furnace fire, the power of the Heavenly Dao, even shouldered the heavy responsibility of hammering the iron billet.

Yet at this crucial juncture, the soul-furnace, playing the role of the crucible, was utterly unable to play any part at all.

Instead, it was nearly directly annihilated by the furnace fire—that is, the power of the Heavenly Dao. This truly placed the soul-furnace in a most pathetic position, resembling a deeply aggrieved young bride.

Logically speaking, a martial technique designed to temper the soul should not produce such terrifying effects. However, one must not overlook that these monstrous results were achieved only because a group of almighty beings were carrying him through the process.

Almighty Being Number One was Su Ling's physical body; Almighty Being Number Two was the angry power of the Heavenly Dao, which annihilates all things; Almighty Being Number Three...

Did such a character even exist?

As for the final minor role, the soul itself, no excessive explanation was needed.

After all, the soul was a total weakling, utterly useless. Fortunately, thanks to the collaborative carrying of its two almighty teammates, it managed to avoid looking completely abysmal.

Regarding the negative side effects brought by the second realm of the martial technique—pain amplified a hundredfold—if one ignored the system within the soul, Su Ling could not detect a single thing wrong with his physical body.

Perhaps his body defied the original intent of the martial technique. After all, the creator of the technique could never have guessed that an invincible human body would one day practice this masochistic dual-cultivation technique of soul and flesh...

Su Ling's soul was ecstatic beyond measure. Almighty Teammate Number One, his physical body, remained completely indifferent, signaling that this destructive force was still not enough and needed to be even more violent.

On the other side, Almighty Teammate Number Two wasn't actually a teammate at all, but an enemy; yet regrettably, it had been subverted by the physical body and turned into nourishment for the soul's advancement.

The power of the Heavenly Dao felt utterly helpless, for no matter how hard it tried, it simply couldn't shatter Su Ling's freakishly abnormal human physique.

If the Heavenly Dao possessed a will, it would surely drop to its knees on the spot and curse aloud at this monstrous scoundrel!

---

A short while later, the near-infinite brilliance of the Heavenly Dao seemed to have sensed the anomaly within. Possessing a certain consciousness, it actually took the initiative to intensify and wash the power of annihilation over Su Ling!

Boom!

At that moment, a brilliant golden destructive beam, distinct from all other Dao brilliance, blasted forth with a terrifying aura, shattering a swath of space and instantly engulfing Su Ling, who was still enjoying his thermal bath and massage.

Su Ling first felt a slight burning sensation on his skin. Immediately after, this searing heat spiked drastically, reaching temperatures comparable to the core of a blazing sun, causing his brow to furrow abruptly.

"This sensation... something is wrong!"

Su Ling snapped his eyes open. What met his gaze was a vast expanse of crimson-gold Dao brilliance, and the terrifying power contained within it was millions of times more violent than before!

The immense pressure directly rattled Su Ling's indestructible physical body.

He felt like a piece of raw iron heated to a glowing red on an anvil, continuously enduring the violent hammering of the Dao brilliance born of the power to destroy all things!

His blood vessels were squeezed flat by this terrifying force, causing the blood within to surge with accelerated speed.

His heart suddenly pounded violently, and the sensation of surging blood rushed through his entire body!

At this moment, Su Ling felt a physical discomfort—a sensation he had not experienced in a very long time.

Ever since his physical prowess became matchless after three years of training, he hadn't even caught a minor cold...

Only now did he belatedly taste this ordinary, mundane discomfort experienced by ordinary people.

Yes, he was merely feeling slightly uncomfortable. If the previous Dao brilliance was like soaking in a hot spring on a volcano, then right now it was like stripping off all his clothes and leaping straight into a bathtub of excessively hot water, just like an ordinary person...

Discomfort was inevitable, but it wouldn't lead to bodily injury—an almost impossible outcome for him.

---

At this time, as Su Ling endured the mutated Dao brilliance, his physical body rarely showed fluctuations. His skin turned a deep, extreme flush rather than its previous uniform crimson, resembling a king crab boiled to a vibrant red.

Although his vision was entirely occupied by dazzling golden brilliance, his keen intuition told him that if he were to linger any longer in brilliance capable of annihilating great transcendental beings, it might take less than three minutes.

Su Ling would be directly knocked unconscious on the spot by the sheer discomfort caused by this pressure.

This feeling was akin to an ordinary person prone to severe motion sickness boarding a violently swaying passenger bus, embarking on a long-distance journey spanning thousands of miles across multiple days and nights—an extreme, horrifying sense of discomfort.

While the probability of dying from motion sickness did exist, it was nonexistent for Su Ling. The only likely result was that he would lose consciousness, while his physical body would continue to be relentlessly battered by the Dao brilliance.

Under this continuous onslaught, his physical body required no worry; only his soul demanded attention. After all, unlike his indestructible physique, his soul could potentially be eroded drop by drop through sheer perseverance!

Su Ling closed his eyes, and the discomfort akin to lukewarm water washing over his eyeballs vanished. At that moment, he finally felt a long-absent crisis of impending death closing in.

Although he had anticipated it beforehand, experiencing it firsthand was entirely different from theoretical ease. This sensation was like someone plagued by chronic tinnitus and nearsightedness suddenly having their vision and hearing sharpened to perfection.

The hazy, viewing-flowers-through-mist visual effect disappeared, replaced by a clarity that reached terrifying proportions.

Su Ling experienced a rare surge of excitement, a wicked arc curving the corners of his lips. Although the threat of death did not stem from a living powerhouse, the extreme pressure it generated was comparable to facing an unconquerable, terrifying enemy head-on!

"Let's call it a day for now."

Su Ling reined in his somewhat excited expression as his fighting intent faded. The enemy was not a tangible entity; if he chose to fight it, he would be facing an abstract concept of a higher order rather than a mere living creature.

With his current strength, his chances of victory were slim. After all, the Dao he was facing was capable of instantly reducing him to dust on a spiritual level. As for his physical body, he possessed absolute confidence that it would not be annihilated.

At this juncture, he should know when to stop and cut his losses. One should show mercy where possible and not push things too far. After all, "wool-shearing" was never an easy task.