[Maintaining river order, Favor Points +1000]
Upon hearing the system reward of a full thousand Favor Points, Su Mu's mouth almost split open with laughter.
If only a few more river trespassers like Li Qiye came along, he could earn more Favor Points and even collect some toll fees.
As a River Guardian, charging a little toll fee is quite reasonable, right??
Su Mu returned to his stone house, inspecting the iron lump given by Li Qiye, looking left and right, unable to see anything extraordinary about it.
He treated it as scrap iron and tossed it inside his house.
His gaze fell on the golden heart artifact, which felt heavy in his hand; he estimated it must weigh about a thousand pounds!
Oh no!
He forgot to ask Li Qiye how to use this treasure!
Apart from its golden color, it looked no different from an ordinary heart and continued to beat steadily.
"Shall I?"
"Just eat it, maybe?"
When in doubt, just eat it.
Put it in his belly, that can't possibly go wrong.
With that, Su Mu skillfully set up an iron pot, and once the water boiled, he tossed the heart into the pot to cook.
Within just a few seconds of cooking, the water in the pot was instantly absorbed.
Su Mu continued adding water several times, each time it was absorbed in mere seconds while the heart remained intact.
"Whatever."
"What's dirty won't make you sick when eaten!"
With that, Su Mu opened his mouth and swallowed the heart in one gulp.
In an instant, the heart got stuck in Su Mu's throat, turning his face purple as he pounded his chest.
After a few strong hits, he finally managed to swallow it down.
However, it didn't reach his stomach but got stuck in his chest.
Su Mu hurriedly sat down cross-legged and began refining the heart in his chest. The moment his Spiritual Power touched the heart.
The heart reacted as if electrified, shooting straight through the esophagus into Su Mu's chest cavity, settling on the right side of his chest.
The next moment.
Flesh started to envelop the heart, growing countless minute blood vessels, beginning to merge with Su Mu's body....
This process lasted an entire day and night.
Su Mu was enveloped in blood aura, and his aura surged the moment the heart's vessels connected!
Purple Mansion First Layer!
Purple Mansion Second Layer!
Purple Mansion Third Layer!
....
Purple Mansion Great Perfection!
His Cultivation barreled forward to Purple Mansion Great Perfection, only then did it halt.
Su Mu's physical body became a hundred times stronger, even gaining five centimeters in height, standing at an ideal height of 1.85 meters, with well-proportioned muscles, his demeanor underwent a complete transformation.
Moreover, he could clearly sense that he had only refined a very small part of the golden heart, maybe not even 0.1%.
Just that 0.1% was enough to propel Su Mu's Cultivation to Purple Mansion Great Perfection. If fully refined, what terrifying level could be achieved!
Currently, Su Mu has two hearts, one on each side.
The left is his original heart, flesh-colored, and the right is the newly added one, faintly golden-colored.
As for how Su Mu could determine he had only refined about 0.1%.
It was because his body linked to his original heart had a total of three million fine blood vessels.
And this second heart had only three thousand vessels connected to his body, approximately equal to 0.1%.
In the following days.
Su Mu deliberately tried to "build blood vessels" to connect to the second heart but found all efforts failed.
He concluded the reason was that his original physical body was too weak to bear the heart.
Simply put, his body was level one, while the heart required a level one hundred body for full compatibility.
Just like you can't fit a three-meter tall train inside a one-meter tall tunnel.
.....
So, Su Mu's plans for rapid advancement were dashed.
He had hoped to completely refine the heart and ascend directly to the heavens!
Turns out, he was still young and needed to take things step by step, first strengthening his body.
His heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and other organs, apart from a high-grade heart, the rest were very basic.
.....
"This snake meat really is amazing!"
"Too bad only ten pounds are left."
Su Mu devoured the remaining water snake meat. Although it no longer improved his Cultivation, the snake meat did strengthen his body.
After eating dozens of pounds of snake meat these days.
The heart's 3,000 blood vessels had increased to 4,000, refining a small additional part.
However, his Cultivation didn't rise, still staying at Purple Mansion Great Perfection.
Though his Cultivation hasn't improved, his Sea of Consciousness expanded tenfold, his Vital Blood Force expanded fiftyfold, and his Spiritual Power, Divine Sense, Soul Power, and other aspects also saw significant improvements.
...
This river is home to many Treasure Fish.
Unfortunately, he couldn't catch any.
The first Treasure Fish was a freebie, the second Silver Dragon Fish, and the third Water Snake were all brought by Little Mahi.
At this moment, Su Mu really missed Little Mahi.
He went to the riverbank.
Released Spirit Summon, only to find Little Mahi had left this part of the water, and it was quite far away; he could only vaguely sense a direction.
This little guy better not end up in trouble, it's his lucky Koi Carp after all.
Without you, I'll have no meat to eat!
Su Mu wasn't without attempts to catch Treasure Fish himself. Recently he tried using his excellent swimming skills to search underwater for hours but didn't even see a trace.
Though there were often stranded fish and shrimp, those were just ordinary ones, failing to pique Su Mu's interest, opting instead to release them and earn Favor Points.
What he lacked were Treasure Fish like the Silver Dragon Fish and Treasure Snakes like the Water Snake.
Su Mu planned on using Favor Points to enhance his Cultivation Technique proficiency.
[Cyan Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique +100]
[Cyan Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique: First Layer (0/100)]→[Cyan Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique: Second Layer (0/200)]
The next second, Su Mu's aura began to rise, his mind filled with experiences and memories about the Cyan Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique, though he hadn't broken into the Mahayana Stage, he was infinitely close.
With the improvement in the Cyan Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique, Su Mu's Spiritual Power's strength, dimension, and exuberance were comprehensively enhanced.
As his Cultivation ability improved rapidly, he needed to elevate his Cultivation Techniques; otherwise, having great Cultivation without combat techniques would be quite awkward.
.....
Su Mu felt off today, couldn't resist the urge to make a big gamble!
Opened the attribute panel:
[Host: Su Mu]
[Cultivation: Purple Mansion Great Perfection]
[Mastered Divine Techniques: Water Control (Level 2), Swimming (Level 2)]
[Mastered Techniques: Cyan Heaven Dragon Transformation Technique (Second Layer)]
[Water Beast Tamer: Apychelodraco]
[River Affinity: 0.1%]
[River Favor Points: 1650 points]
All this while, he had always drawn from the [Ordinary Lottery], with the highest being a hundred-point [Silver Lottery]
Feeling in a great mood today and having a strong hunch, he felt today was perfect for a big gamble!
Bring me a thousand-point Golden Lottery!
[Do you wish to spend a thousand Favor Points for a Golden Lottery draw?]
"Draw it for me!!"