Amidst the dim lighting of the basement, a container large enough to fit an average person was placed.

"Are you sure about this? It's not called Hell's Water for nothing." Grandpa Wu asked as he supported Mu Chen, who was only in his undergarments, beside the container. He glanced into the contents of the container. It was filled with a greyish-black liquid that was writhing around as if it had a life of its own.

"Yes." Mu Chen replied. "If this works, not only will my strength increase, but my injuries will also heal."

"But if you fail…" Grandpa Wu sighed and didn't finish his sentence.

Mu Chen didn't speak anymore, instead, he just raised the wad of leather he had been holding in his hand and stuffed it in his mouth. The following process would be very painful, he didn't want to create a scene.

"Brat, I hope you survive this. A lot of people will be sad if you die." Grandpa Wu said. He had tried to persuade Mu Chen several times by now, but to no avail.

Grandpa Wu helped Mu Chen get into the tub. Mu Chen sat cross-legged inside the barrel. Due to him entering the container, the level of the liquid rose higher. It was now almost up to his chin. As soon as his body came into contact with the liquid, it began to cling to his body as if it was agitated by his presence. Mu Chen felt his skin start itching. This was just the initial reaction of the liquid coming into contact with his skin.

Mu Chen looked at Grandpa Wu who was looking at him in concern and nodded. Grandpa Wu sighed then turned and left the basement. Before he left, he placed a spirit crystal in the gap between several other spirit crystals that had been arranged in a complex pattern. This was a spirit extraction array that Mu Chen had Zhou Mei arrange before she left.

For his method to work Mu Chen required an environment with dense spiritual qi. His residence in the Mu Family had been his original choice. However, due to what happened, he had thought he would lose his chance to employ his method. Thankfully, the assailant's ring was full of middle-grade spirit crystals. By using them, he could create an environment that fulfilled his requirements.

With the final spirit crystal in place, the array was triggered. Slowly, the spiritual qi from within the crystals began to gather at the center of the array, where Mu Chen was sitting inside the barrel.

The liquid in the barrel was a concoction he had researched and stumbled upon while researching methods to improve his physical strength. It was made up of a hundred and eight poisonous materials. The poisonous materials were carefully selected in a way that they would restrain each other's toxicity. Once the toxicity was restrained, the poison would instead act as a stimulant. It would invade into even the deepest muscles unearthing their potential and tempering them.

However, although the toxicity was restrained, the corrosivity wasn't. In fact, the efficacy of this method inherently relied on its corrosive nature. The concoction would end up corroding his muscles and organs, triggering the body's survival instincts. The body would naturally try to resist corrosion.

The stimulant effect of the concoction would enhance the body's self-healing capability. As the muscles were corroded, they would be healed or rather replaced. The body would rebuild the muscles. However, only the muscles that could resist the corrosion would survive. So all the newer muscles that went through this process would be naturally stronger than those before. This was the tempering.

This method wasn't exactly new or secret. However, nobody used it. Because the survival rate was extremely low. Those who had survived had actually resorted to using healing pills. Healing pills would heal all muscles without any distinction. Thus, although they survived, it also meant that they gave up on the process. Those who had persisted met horrible deaths with all their muscles and organs turned into slag. Only their skeletons were left behind. Due to the horrible effect of the liquid, it had become known as Hell's Water.

No sane cultivator would use such a method to enhance the strength of the physical body. It had become a taboo method.

But Mu Chen felt he had some chance of succeeding. All the people who had tried to use this method before were just people in Foundation Stages or just mortals desperate for greater strength. Cultivators in the Spirit Gathering or higher realm wouldn't resort to such methods, to just get a stronger body. As long as they continued to cultivate, their body would eventually become stronger once they achieved Tendon Transformation. It was just a matter of time. So it wasn't worth it to take such a risk.

Mu Chen inferred that the reason the predecessors had failed was that their bodies weren't strong enough. The stimulant part of the concoction could only enhance the body's natural healing ability. This was different for different people. It was also different for Mu Chen himself.

Mu Chen's mortal body was already beyond the standards of average humans or young cultivators. His natural healing was also beyond that of ordinary humans since he was already halfway to the Tendon Transformation.

It was a matter of balance. As long as the body's healing capability could cope with the corrosivity, the process would be a success. There was also the existence of rich spiritual qi. Unlike those people in the Foundation Stage, his body could absorb it. This would further aid in healing. This was different from relying on healing pills. The degree to which the spiritual qi would affect the healing was dependent on how much to what extent a certain muscle had adapted to the infusion of spiritual qi.

This would mean that the muscles which hadn't adapted to the infusion of spiritual qi would be the first to be corroded. Newborn muscles were more compatible with spiritual qi infusion. Thus they would be easily tempered by spiritual qi.

In this way, not only his physique would become strong, the muscles and organs would also be infused by spiritual qi helping him complete the Tendon Transformation stage. This was like killing two birds in a single stone.

Of course, the risk was also great.

Just a few moments after Mu Chen had entered the barrel, the liquid began to corrode his skin. At first, Mu Chen only felt some light itching on every spot of his skin. But then the intensity of the itching began to grow gradually. It was as if a large number of ants were crawling everywhere on his body. Then they started to bite.

The pain was sharp and intense and only lasted for a moment on every tiny spot on the skin. However, there were so many such moments, that it soon became impossible to distinguish between them. Mu Chen felt as if he was being stabbed by a million needles on every inch of his skin. And it didn't end at a single stab. He was being stabbed again and again.

"Aarrgh..!"

Under the impact of the pain, Mu Chen groaned. However, he tried hard to ignore the pain and focus on his natal breathing. Only by continuously absorbing the spiritual qi would his chances of surviving increase.

But this was just the beginning. After the liquid had corroded his skin, it began to attack the muscles underneath. Mu Chen's muscles began to twitch on their own, and the blood had begun to ooze since the skin had been corroded.

Bit by bit the liquid started to seep into the muscles and the tendons. And although his head was above the level of the liquid, the liquid had begun to crawl through his veins, causing the veins on his forehead to throb. Mu Chen felt as if the muscles in his body were liquifying. As the liquid corroded his muscles, it also started to stimulate their potential.

Under the stimulant effect of the liquid, the muscles had already started to resist the corrosion. Their corrosion and healing was visible to naked eyes. However, the speed of corrosion was faster than that of healing. So Mu Chen did his best to ignore the pain and focus on breathing in the spiritual qi for healing and tempering. Otherwise, he would just be left as a skeleton.

Mu Chen's body soon became a battlefield where his muscles were simultaneously being destroyed and were being rebuilt. Even with his mental fortitude, Mu Chen could hardly bear the pain. His muffled moans echoed throughout the entire basement.

The pain of having his muscles corroded didn't stop. However, at some point, Mu Chen became numb to it. At some point l, he entered a state of mind where he could no longer feel the passage of time as he focused completely on natal breathing technique.

#

When he opened his eyes, the first thing Mu Chen became aware of was, wasn't the changes in his body, rather hunger. An extreme feeling of hunger. In fact, his hunger was what finally had woken him.

"It's over?" Mu Chen muttered. "I succeeded?!"

Mu Chen looked around and saw the pile of spirit crystal around him that had now turned into powder and sighed.

The oil lamps within the basement had long since run stopped burning and it was very dark. However, Mu Chen could still see within this darkness.

Mu Chen stood up and stretched his body in a slow and deliberate manner. His bones made some popping sounds with his every moment. The solution in the barrel had already dried up. Much of it had dried on his body forming a layer of mud-like substance, which flaked and fell as he moved his body.

"My injuries-they have healed completely!" This was the first thing Mu Chen realized as he stretched his body. This made him excited and he began to carefully observe himself to see if there were any other noticeable changes.

"My appearance hasn't changed...but I feel as if my body has become lighter." Mu Chen discovered.

"But what about strength?" Mu Chen clenched and unclenched his fist several times in a row, planning to test his strength against the nearby wall.

Grumble~!

Mu Chen's stomach made a loud noise.

"I should find something to eat first." Mu Chen groaned as he rubbed his stomach. "Ugh! And a bath as well." The mud-like substance was giving off a ton of stench.

Mu Chen found the blanket that he had used previously and made his way towards the door of the basement. Although he was eager to test the limits of his body, it could only wait until he had filled his stomach.