Lake Bottom.
"An increase of roughly four years of cultivation!"
After refining the twenty-year-old Thunderclap Fruit, Jiang Ning slowly opened his eyes, a look of pleasant surprise flashing within them.
For an ordinary fifth-rank Inner Strength Realm martial artist, a twenty-year-old Thunderclap Fruit would typically only increase their cultivation by about two years.
But for him, it had increased by four years.
The effect had doubled.
This meant that for him, one Thunderclap Fruit was equivalent to two.
How could he not be delighted?
The next moment.
The remaining fifty-year-old Thunderclap Fruit appeared in his hand.
"Based on previous experience, this Thunderclap Fruit should increase my cultivation by ten years!"
The thought alone filled Jiang Ning's heart with exhilaration.
Ten years of cultivation.
How many ten-year spans does a person have in their lifetime?
Even a Grandmaster, as mighty as they are, only lives for about two sixty years.
A single fruit like this was equivalent to a decade of accumulated cultivation for an ordinary fifth-rank martial artist.
At this moment, Jiang Ning gained a deeper, more concrete understanding of the importance of resources.
No matter how high one's talent was, how could it compare to the wonders of such resources?
Jiang Ning sighed inwardly.
Then, after a few large bites, the fifty-year-old Thunderclap Fruit entered his stomach.
He immediately visualized a furnace in his mind, transforming himself into that furnace to refine the fifty-year-old spiritual fruit in his belly.
In less than half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
"Approximately ten years of cultivation!" He opened his eyes, his expression joyful.
The consecutive increases in cultivation, totaling about fifteen years, made him feel that the accumulation of inner energy in his dantian had reached a considerable level.
The improvement compared to before was also strikingly evident.
At this moment, based on his perception, his accumulated cultivation had reached over fifty-five years of pure inner energy.
"Almost reaching one sixty years of cultivation!!"
He smiled.
Then, another Thunderclap Fruit instantly appeared in his hand one with lightning patterns.
This was the hallmark of a hundred-year-old Thunderclap Fruit.
Nearby, the old turtle watched this scene, drooling with envy.
Hadn't it gone to the lair of the Thunder Serpent, that electric eel, precisely for the Thunderclap Fruit?
Although the Thunderclap Fruit, as a natural treasure, was most effective for the Thunder Serpent due to its compatible attributes, significantly increasing its cultivation and demonic power,
for the old turtle, the effects were still remarkable, capable of providing a substantial boost to its own cultivation and demonic power.
It currently had just over two hundred years of cultivation.
If it absorbed this hundred-year-old Thunderclap Fruit, its cultivation could increase by at least half, gaining over a hundred years of cultivation.
If it ever reached a thousand years of cultivation in the future, it could condense a demonic core and become what was known as a Great Demon.
Then, it noticed Jiang Ning glancing over and quickly averted its gaze, focusing intently on gnawing the fish head in front of it.
Beside it.
Seeing the old turtle's shifty eyes, Jiang Ning couldn't help but chuckle lightly before turning his attention back to the Thunderclap Fruit in his hand.
A hundred-year-old Thunderclap Fruit would undoubtedly allow his inner energy to manifest an abyss-like phenomenon, granting him over one sixty years of cultivation.
He took a bite.
Crackle
Lightning erupted from the Thunderclap Fruit, instantly illuminating the dark lake bottom around him.
Jiang Ning's lips also twitched, his mouth tingling.
"This thing… an ordinary martial artist wouldn't be able to handle it!"
He endured the discomfort and quickly devoured the hundred-year-old Thunderclap Fruit, not bothering to savor it.
Once the entire fruit entered his stomach, he couldn't taste anything at all.
His tongue was completely numb.
Moreover, he now felt waves of tingling and stabbing pain spreading from his abdomen.
As the Thunderclap Fruit entered his stomach and was broken down by gastric juices, the medicinal power, and lightning energy contained within began flooding into his internal organs.
The next moment.
Jiang Ning closed his eyes and visualized the furnace in his mind once more.
Boom
It was as if raging flames had ignited inside him.
Crackle
At this moment, clear thunderous sounds rang out from within his body.
The erupting lightning energy began tempering his internal organs, while the refined medicinal power caused wisps of mist-like inner energy to emerge in his dantian. These strands of energy merged into the sea of clouds in his dantian, causing it to churn violently.
At first, they were sparse and scattered, like the first drops of spring rain.
But in the blink of an eye.
They multiplied into countless threads.
The continuous growth of his cultivation caused the sea in his dantian to surge and roar.
After an unknown amount of time
Perhaps a breath, ten breaths, or even longer.
The phenomenon in his dantian suddenly changed.
The previously turbulent sea vanished, replaced by boundless stillness.
"Inner energy like an abyss" The greatest implication of this phrase was not the visual phenomenon in the dantian, but the oppressive might of the inner energy when unleashed, like facing a bottomless abyss, evoking trembling and fear.
At this moment.
Feeling the sudden calm in his dantian, Jiang Ning understood.
At this moment, he possessed sixty years of pure cultivated power.
The eruption of sixty years of power was enough to unleash earth-shattering might.
With an abundance of inner energy, even facing a fully armored and armed army of ten thousand, all composed of ranked warriors, he could cut straight through them.
Then,
He reined in his scattered thoughts and continued refining the hundred-year-old Thunderclap Fruit within his body.
After a long while,
Jiang Ning slowly opened his eyes.
"An increase of sixty years in power!!"
He felt an overwhelming sense of awe.
A single fruit had allowed him to gain sixty years of cultivated power.
Before this, he wouldn't have dared to imagine such a thing.
Yet now, it had truly happened within him.
This meant his current power had surpassed a century, reaching an astonishing two cycles of sixty years one hundred and twenty years, the accumulation of forty-three thousand eight hundred days and nights.
And he had achieved it in such a short time.
"Is this the effect of rare spiritual treasures?" Jiang Ning murmured to himself, feeling an unreal disbelief.
A moment later,
Hoo
He exhaled lightly, and the breath was like a sharp sword splitting the lake water before him, cutting through three meters before dissolving into countless bubbles that rose upward.
He stood up slowly, his mind pondering a question:
How much more cultivated power did he need to reach "Inner Energy Like a Prison"?
From what he knew, above "Inner Energy Like an Abyss" was "Inner Energy Like a Prison."
But exactly how many years of cultivated power were required to reach that stage, he still didn't know.
Nearby,
The old turtle sensed Jiang Ning standing and felt an additional layer of fear.
It could perceive the immense pressure emanating from Jiang Ning, making it instinctively want to keep its distance.
At the same time,
Jiang Ning's gaze returned to the corpse of the electric eel.
Time to go back.
He quickly made up his mind.
Today's gains had far exceeded his expectations.
Not only had his power multiplied, now approaching two cycles of sixty years,
But he had also harvested Source Energy Points and the corpse of the fully demonized electric eel.
Then, his eyes fell on the old turtle beside him.
By now, the massive head of the eel had been completely devoured by the turtle, leaving only the skeletal remains.
"Master!" the old turtle spoke, its voice carrying more reverence than before.
Jiang Ning said, "Old Ghost, how many years of cultivation do you have now?"
"Answering the Master," the old turtle replied promptly, "Previously, my cultivation was two hundred and three years. Today, it increased by three years, reaching two hundred and six."
Jiang Ning nodded slightly.
From books, he had learned some related knowledge.
After gaining sentience, a demon's cultivation would grow over time, and so would its demonic power.
For a being like the old turtle, with just over two hundred years of cultivation, it was merely a minor demon.
Only those with over a thousand years of cultivation, having condensed a demon core, could be considered major demons.
According to ancient records, major demons of a thousand years or more were not uncommon in the past.
Yet even those who had just entered the ranks of major demons were not considered true powerhouses among demons.
Thus, it was clear that a minor demon like the old turtle, barely scraping two hundred years of cultivation, was little more than a small fry.
As his thoughts wandered, Jiang Ning also noticed the latter part of the turtle's words.
He asked curiously, "Your cultivation increased by three years? How?"
The old turtle explained, "Master fed me his blood earlier, which increased my cultivation by two years!"
Then it pointed at the eel's head. "And after digesting this electric eel's brain, my cultivation grew by another year."
Hearing this, Jiang Ning gained some understanding of how demonic cultivation increased.
He pressed further, "Old Turtle, you were no match for that electric eel was its cultivation higher than yours?"
"Not by much!" The old turtle's voice carried envy. "Our cultivation was similar, but the Thunder Eel's innate supernatural abilities far surpassed mine."
"Among demons, cultivation is just the foundation of only one factor."
"Innate abilities and other means have a much greater impact."
After a brief exchange with the old turtle, Jiang Ning's understanding of demonic beings deepened.
Soon after, under his command, the old turtle shrank to the size of a palm.
Jiang Ning tucked it into his pocket, then lifted the massive electric eel with one hand and headed home.
As he moved, the lake water became the force propelling him forward.
He didn't need to exert any effort relying solely on his water-control ability, his speed reached an astonishing hundred zhang (about 300 meters) per breath.
"As I thought, my understanding wasn't wrong! The Water Manipulation ability has many exploitable aspects."
Feeling the water part before him without resistance while the currents behind carried him swiftly through the lake,
Jiang Ning nodded in satisfaction, enjoying this mode of travel.
Beneath the lake's surface,
A tunnel-like path formed visibly in his wake.
This speed was about 40% of his land speed.
An ordinary fifth-rank warrior, even on land, couldn't match his current speed underwater.
...and that was while carrying the six-meter-long corpse of an electric eel.
By the time Jiang Ning returned home, the sky was nearly dark.
When Jiang Li and Liu Wanwan saw the enormous eel demon he had tossed into the courtyard
"Little Brother, where did you go?" Jiang Li's eyes widened in shock.
A six-meter-long, two-to-three-hundred-pound electric eel this was the first time he had ever seen such a thing.
Electric eels were rare in Luoshui Lake, but they could occasionally be spotted.
An ordinary adult electric eel was only about three meters long and weighed forty or fifty pounds.
But the one Jiang Ning had dumped in the yard looked like a headless giant serpent six meters long and weighing several hundred pounds.
"Wow"
"Wow"
"Wow"
Little Doubao gasped repeatedly in amazement.
"Uncle is so amazing!!"
Seeing this, Jiang Ning couldn't help but chuckle.
"I just took a trip to the lake and caught this demonized electric eel. Killed it and brought it back."
"Demonized?" Jiang Li's eyes grew even wider.
"Mm." Jiang Ning nodded, casually resting his hand on Little Doubao's head as she ran over, ruffling her hair as he continued, "Just a minor demon from Luoshui Lake. Leaving it alive would've been a hazard, so I killed it and brought it back. This thing must be incredibly nourishing!"
Hearing this, Jiang Li's expression turned complicated.
Demons legendary creatures that saw humans as prey.
Yet in Jiang Ning's words, it was treated like a roadside chicken or duck, casually slaughtered and brought home to cook.
It felt unreal.
Liu Wanwan wiped her hands eagerly. "A-Ning, leave this eel to me. I'll prepare a feast for dinner."
"Wait a moment." Jiang Ning raised a hand to stop her.
Then, channeling his inner energy, he sliced off a palm-sized piece of flesh from the eel.
The meat was translucent, almost like jelly, and incredibly springy.
He recalled the near-demonized white dragon fish from before.
That fish had also been highly nourishing, but its potency was too much for ordinary people to digest.
Now, this electric eel was a fully demonized creature with over two hundred years of cultivation.
Whether a normal person could even eat it safely, he wasn't sure.
So he needed to test it first.
The next moment
Flames burst to life in midair.
The piece of fish meat hovered above the fire.
At the same time
Little Doubao dug out the palm-sized turtle from Jiang Ning's pocket. The two stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"Uncle, did you catch this turtle for me?"
She looked up at Jiang Ning, overjoyed.
"You're the turtle! You're the turtle!!" The old turtle spoke, its voice full of resentment.
Being called "old turtle" by Jiang Ning was one thing knowing his strength, he didn't dare argue.
But now, a little girl was calling it a turtle too?
It was a dignified softshell turtle, yet she was calling it a green-shelled tortoise!
Unbearable! Unbearable!!
Jiang Ning glanced down at the turtle.
"Hm?" His tone carried a warning.
The old turtle shivered instantly.
Having just been brought back by Jiang Ning, it had witnessed his underwater speed firsthand and knew his power far surpassed its own. It also knew its master would not tolerate disrespect.
Meanwhile
Everyone else froze at the turtle's voice.
Little Doubao's eyes bulged.
Jiang Li and Liu Wanwan looked horrified, their faces filled with disbelief.
Following the voice, they realized it came from the tiny turtle in their daughter's hands.
They couldn't believe it.
How could a little turtle speak human words?
Just then
Little Doubao wrinkled her nose.
"Sooo yummy!"
Slurp
Drool pooled in her mouth as she stared at the now-roasted fish meat in front of Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning also turned his attention back to the fish.
The aroma of grilled eel wafted through the air, and his eyes lit up.
In life, there weren't many true pleasures.
Good food was undoubtedly one of them.
Without it, he believed, happiness would be far rarer.
"Uncle, I wanna eat it!" Little Doubao dropped the turtle, tugged Jiang Ning's sleeve, and put on her most pitiful begging face.
"No way." Jiang Ning shook his head.
He picked up the roasted fish, blew on it out of habit to cool it, then took a bite.
"Mmm" His eyes sparkled.
Despite having no seasoning, this was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.
The texture was firm, like beef, but the flavor was incredibly rich and savory.
Slurp
Little Doubao sucked back the drool threatening to escape.
Jiang Ning devoured the entire piece in a few quick bites.
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