Dark Moon Era

Chapter 402: The Perfect Form

Tang Ling finally woke up.

Based on real-time, he had spent a total of 1 hour and 7 minutes in the dream.

“Little Tang Tang!” Ding Ling and Ding Dong jumped towards Tang Ling the moment he opened his eyes and hugged him happily around the neck.

Tang Ling was rather clueless and his eyes were still blurry from waking up.

“Bro! What happened inside the dream? Tell me! What took you so long to wake up?!” Even between friends, discussing one’s dream was not common as it was somewhat of a taboo since it involved one’s spoils or whatnot, but Han Xing’s curiosity got the best of him.

Tang Ling was stunned for two seconds before regaining his senses. Being kicked out without a heads-up felt terrible to the point that he could not wake up properly.

I’ll have to be aware of Kun kicking me out without telling me next time. That was Tang Ling’s first thought.

In the next second, he felt two soft and bouncy little cheeks nuzzling his own. Tang Ling’s instinctive reaction was to smile.

What followed was Han Xing’s voice echoing in his ears. Han Xing was gawking at him with a perverted look, trying to find out what he had gone through in the dream.

As a matter of fact, before Tang Ling woke up, Han Xing was all worrisome and burdened, but the moment the former woke up, Han Xing remembered that his bro was also his love rival for Ro Xin. Then, he realized he should not be such a busybody who cared about his rival.

If Tang Ling remained asleep, would he not have the chance to console the sad Ro Xin? Maybe after a month, he and Ro Xin could be a couple and chase each other happily at the beach. Han Xing was always a far-sighted person.

“Did I fall asleep for a long time?” Tang Ling felt slightly awkward at Han Xing’s question. Strictly speaking, he spent even more time in his previous dream than this one. It was just that the meeting with Kun at the Mysterious Store delayed his return.

Could the time spent in the Mysterious Store have consumed most of his time? Tang Ling once again grasped the key problem.

On the other hand, Han Xing had fallen into his own sweet fantasy. He was dreaming about Ro Xin running in front of him at the beach, teasing, ‘Come on, honey, come catch me,’ while he chased up to her with the silvery chime of laughter under the sunset.

Tang Ling was disgusted by Han Xing’s perverted look, so he simply grabbed a pillow and tossed it at his face. “You were asking something?”

“What?!” Han Xing’s beautiful fantasy was destroyed by the pillow and he growled furiously at Tang Ling.

It was Ding Dong who told Tang Ling what happened while leaning on his shoulder, “Little Tang Tang, you’ve been asleep for more than an hour. Ding Ling and I were worried sick.”

“We are worried! Little Tang Tang, are you hungry?” Ding Ling also leaned on Tang Ling’s other shoulder, doting over him. The two little fluffy balls had forgotten about Han Xing altogether.

As expected! The reason why he woke up this late was that the meeting with Kun at the Mysterious Store had held him back! Somehow Kun held Tang Ling up for a lot longer this time and after a quick calculation of the time, it matched his sleeping time.

As for Han Xing, he got jealous again. He and Tang Ling had both come back from the dream, yet the two little balls did not ask whether he was hungry or not.

Han Xing sulked and pouted! I don’t care, whatever Ding Ling is making for Tang Ling, I’ll have a bite!

“I guess I’m a little hungry…” Tang Ling’s eyes shone when the two little balls mentioned food.

As a matter of fact, he did not stop eating even when he was inside the dream, he had been chewing on vicious beast meat after all.

It was then that Boss Huang returned. Unlike his usual slightly perverted look as an irresponsible adult, Boss Huang seemed a little absent-minded today. He did not seem overly surprised about Tang Ling waking up either as he was caught up in his own matters.

“Boss! I’ll have what Tang Ling is having later!” Han Xing grumbled loudly.

Boss Huang frowned and glared at him. “Supper isn’t included in your work schedule. You and Tang Ling will have to pay for the meal. I’ll just collect one Black Sea coin each as token payment.”

“Why don’t you go rob someone instead?” Han Xing was unhappy with the price. One Black Sea coin? What was he getting? An astronomical figure worth of seafood? It was even more expensive than the blue lobster from the old civilization.

“It’s your decision whether to pay for supper or not,” Boss Huang responded in his sleazy manner.

“I’m getting it!” The price did not matter to Han Xing as he got some spoils from the Dream Domain. The proud Lord Han could afford supper at the price of one Black Sea coin!

“I don’t have money. Can I barter with materials instead?” Tang Ling answered in a forthright manner as he had a bag full of materials. After all, he had been smithing for a month or so now, and his insight for materials was better than ever. He knew that the materials in his bag were valuable, thus one Black Sea coin did not matter much to him either.

“Hoho? It seems like you got yourself something good after spending that long in the dream.” Boss Huang squatted down after turning a blind eye at the grumpy Han Xing. He sized up Tang Ling with a prying gaze.

When Tang Ling came to, that backpack filled with materials followed him back from the dream. The two little balls did not care about his spoils whereas Han Xing was caught up in his own fantasy, so he did not notice what Tang Ling had in his backpack either.

Tang Ling smiled bashfully as he patted his backpack and said, “It’s nothing actually. I just got myself some scraps.”

“Ding Ling, supper. Ding Dong, go help,” Boss Huang stood up and told the two little balls to get prepared in a lazy tone.

He then told Tang Ling, “You can bring your scraps to the smithing room later. I’ll check whether they are worth one Black Sea coin or not.”

“Sure.” Tang Ling was quick with his answer. After all, Kun did hint at him to show his spoils to Boss Huang, including that blueprint.

…

Since the payment of one Black Sea coin had been collected, the supper prepared at Dvesha Moha would, of course, live up to its worth. After all, Boss Huang was a businessman and he still possessed basic credibility.

Large shrimps, clams, crabs with rich roe, and everything else prepared on the table was quality vicious beast meat.

Tang Ling and Han Xing were fighting furiously for the food. Their chopsticks were as quick as the fastest swords in their hands and there were sparks in the air whenever the chopsticks clashed.

The chopsticks from Dvesha Moha were something else! After going through the mill, the chopsticks managed to stay intact, but Tang Ling lost in the end as he did not eat a lot. It was not because he lost to Han Xing in the fight but because after he started eating, he realized an awkward problem: he could not eat as much as he used to because the energy stored in his dantian was going to explode.

After waking up, the pressure from the Dream Domain was lifted, including the limitation on his energy absorption.

He managed to reach the minimum threshold of the strength of two tigers in the dream, but he only barely recovered to his prime in the dream through countless killings. He had yet to truly attain the state of the strength of two tigers.

When he woke up, the energy he stored in his dantian was slowly transforming into energy that his body could absorb, but he stored a little too much. Although he did not feel anything when his body subtly absorbed the energy, when he ate more, it was like igniting a fuse.

Therefore, the awkward situation of him eating for the first time in Dvesha Moha happened again. In fact, it might be even worse than the first time as Tang Ling could not even eat another thread of meat. With a red face, he curled up on his chair like a cooked shrimp.

Boss Huang squinted his eyes and immediately saw Tang Ling’s condition. He had taught Tang Ling the spirit visualization method after all. “Did you achieve the strength of two tigers?”

Tang Ling nodded, he did not even have the strength to answer verbally! He wished his energy could convert a little quicker.

Boss Huang grabbed him by the collar and asked, “How much of the vicious beast meat you got from me do you have left?”

“A tenth?” Tang Ling was not sure how much he had consumed.

Boss Huang was furious to the point that he almost exploded. He had seen people with big appetites but not as absurd as Tang Ling. The kid got a whole 2 kg of vicious beast meat from him and the kid had consumed almost everything in a single dream?

What the hell? Did Tang Ling spend a hundred years or his entire life in the dream?

Boss Huang was rendered speechless. He was clueless about the limitations that the Dream Domain added to Tang Ling. All he knew was that Tang Ling must be extremely thick-skinned not to have died from overeating.

He tossed Tang Ling to a side and chided him strictly, “Cultivate right now! Remember to split your energy flow. Otherwise, the explosive energy will make your veins burst.”

As Boss Huang recalled how much energy Tang Ling had been saving up every day, plus the consumption of 2 kg vicious beast meat—not fresh vicious beast meat but dried jerky—in a single dream, he knew this was not a joking matter.

How did the kid survive before this? Without a mentor guiding him, he didn’t even know the basics and the danger of overconsuming energy. I guess he’s as tough as weeds.

Tang Ling was having a bad time. He did not even mind the boss tossing him to the trash can, so he crossed his legs and started cultivating.

The excessive energy that his body could not contain started to become volatile rapidly. With that much excess energy for him to cultivate, he had to split the energy flow and share it with the little seed. Boss Huang’s guidance was as sharp as ever.

Tang Ling followed exactly as he was instructed. After he split his energy flow three-ways, he felt a little better.

On the other hand, Han Xing, who was chewing on a crab claw, blinked cluelessly at Tang Ling.

What the hell? He has to cultivate, convert the energy, and split the energy flow three-ways at the same time? Splitting his attention three-ways? How is this reality?

However, when he thought about Tang Ling’s monstrous potential, Han Xing believed Tang Ling could actually do it. With that in mind, he gobbled his food even faster!

Tang Ling’s monstrosity might be discouraging, but since Han Xing had decided to follow him, he should be too far away from him in terms of strength.

What the hell, man? A single dream entry and he’s reached the threshold of the strength of two tigers? I’m not even there yet…

Han Xing suddenly felt sour, and his nose started to sting with a grievance.

Eat! I shall eat more! Eat as much as I can! This is a way to shorten the distance between me and Tang Ling!

Han Xing was so furious that he even munched down on the crab shells, but he did not notice it at all. Boss Huang stole a glance at him, but he did not want to care about the idiot at all. Ding Dong was happy. Her round googly eyes were squinted into a single line.

Good, good, eat as much as you can! Finish even the crab shells and shrimp shells. Eat the clamshells as well. Then, I won’t have to clean the table later!

Tang Ling was concentrating on his energy conversion. The strength of two tigers should be the bottleneck that he got stuck at the longest and was the most difficult to overcome.

As a matter of fact, the Perfect Genetic Chain should never have a bottleneck unless one was a perfectionist and ought to reach the perfect form of every aspect just like how Tang Ling was seeking the highest state that a Purple Moon Warrior-to-be could reach—the strength of nine bulls and two tigers.

Tang Ling himself might not have noticed it, but his strength accumulation had reached the perfect form. The perfect form of the pre-Purple Moon Warrior stage was something people believed to only exist in theory, yet he had achieved it without even knowing it.

He already achieved the esteemed body status, and after the mysterious copper-faced man reconstructed and tightened every strand of his tissue, his body became a firmer Iron Body.

Although the benefits of the Iron Body had yet to be highlighted, when Tang Ling broke through into a Purple Moon Warrior, he would be able to sustain the strongest energy wash and his muscles would be even firmer. A benign cycle would be formed to last forever.

On top of that, Boss Huang’s medicinal bath helped to expel his hidden wounds. Therefore, the culmination of his strength of nine bulls and two tigers would be on full display.