Even though the pain made Lin Mu shiver, his will was unshakable.

The process of the gold being assimilated into his bones was a strange and painful sensation. At first it was simply like a heavy bag being tired to his bones that pulled it down. But then it felt like something was biting into his bones.

The biting sensation later turned into a drilling pain that was significantly worse than before. His hand and even the entire body trembled as the gold continued affecting him. Lin Mu's other hand was clenched tight, so much so that if he had not completed the first stage of the True Gold Body Forging Arts, his nails would have dug into his palm's flesh and drawn blood.

He bore through the pain and continued to cultivate using the mnemonic of the True Gold Body Forging Arts. Hours passed by as the pain slowly lessened. He didn't know if it was just him getting used to the pain, or if his body was actually adapting to it.

The blood loss had already stopped when he had poured the liquid gold into his hand, and now it was solidified. Lin Mu was sitting on the ground cross legged, with his left hand on his lap.

It felt rather heavy to him and since it was also a bit fatigued from the process, it was harder for him to keep it up the entire time. This time it took Lin Mu a day to finish refining the gold.

And by the time he was done, he seemed to be rather tired looking.

~huu~huu~huu~

Lin Mu let out some deep breaths as he opened his eyes and looked at the status of his hand. The long and deep wound on his hand had completely closed, leaving behind a golden scar instead.

The scar went from the base of his wrist all the way to the top of his shoulder. It looked like someone had painted a line of gold there.

Lin Mu tried standing up and almost stumbled to the left.

"Damn… the balance is really off." Lin Mu said as he felt the weight difference.

His left hand drooped and made him lean to the left slightly. It looked like Lin Mu had some back injury and couldn't stand well. He checked the bones using his spirit sense and found them to be coated with the layer of gold.

Even his fingers and palm bones, which weren't in direct contact with the gold, were coated with them.

"So the gold spread there as well…" Lin Mu muttered.

"Are you okay?" Little Shrubby too woke up after hearing Lin Mu's voice.

A gentle smile appeared on Lin Mu's face as he replied, "I'm okay. A little tired, but okay."

Lin Mu looked towards the flames that were automatically coming out of Little Shrubby's body and heating the cauldron.

"Your control over the fire improved?" Lin Mu said with a raised brow.

"Yes. It's just like cooking!" Little Shrubby spoke.

"Huh… nice." Lin Mu replied as he went towards the cauldron.

The gold inside was still in a liquid state and at the right temperature. Finding that everything was okay, Lin Mu decided to continue.

~Huu~

Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu cut open his right hand as well. This time, he was able to bear through the pain better and completed the cut in one swift manner.

'At least knowing how much strength is needed to break my skin can help me in fights… though this will change once I finish practicing the True Gold Body Forging Arts.' Lin Mu thought.

~glub~

Lin Mu scooped out the liquid gold from the cauldron and poured it into his right hand as the blood and water sizzled. Gritting his teeth, he finished pouring it and sat down to repeat the process.

Another day quickly went by and Lin Mu had finished the process.

~thud~

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Lin Mu looked even more tired than before and his hand slammed into the stony ground, cracking it a little.

~Crack~

He stood up and felt the balance in his body restored again.

"This is certainly heavy… and it is just the start." Lin Mu muttered.

He checked his body's condition and realized that he was actually exhausted.

"Restore your condition and rest for a bit. If you make a mistake later, it won't be worth it." Xukong spoke up.

"I shall, senior." Lin Mu said as he took out some of the alchemical pills that would help him return to the peak quickly.

"I made something, too!" Little Shrubby said as he put a large platter in front of Lin Mu.

~DENG~

Then on the large platter, dropped a pink fish that was at least a meter big and thirty centimeters wide.

"What's this?" Lin Mu asked.

"I caught it when I was exploring the plane before you called me." Little Shrubby replied.

Lin Mu looked at the fish and found it to be a bit familiar.

"I felt that it had a lot of vitality in it and it also smelled good!" Little Shrubby added.

"Oh wait… isn't this the Blood Spring Carp?" Lin Mu remembered.

The Blood Spring Carp was a spirit beast that had a lot of vitality contained within it. It didn't have as much spirit Qi within its body though, but it still had a great value since it could be used to make some high grade healing pills.

The Blood Spring carp lived a long time and accumulated the vitality in its body until it was the time for its breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm. It would then use this vitality to survive the heavenly tribulation and heal from its injuries sustained during that.

It was also the reason why there were no Blood Spring Carps above the Core Condensation realm as the ones at the Nascent soul realm and above were instead called the Essence Spring Carps.

They too were very rather valuable and were used to make peak grade alchemical pills that were even used by Dao Treading realm experts!