Pain racked Lin Mu's body without mercy.
It was not a sharp, sudden agony that one could grit their teeth through and wait to pass. It was vast and overwhelming, like being submerged beneath an endless ocean that pressed in from every direction at once.
Each pulse from the Water Core sent a crushing wave through his flesh, bones, meridians, and even deeper, into the very fabric of his soul.
Lin Mu clenched his teeth, jaw trembling, as his entire body spasmed.
Yet he did not scream.
He had screamed before, long ago, when pain was still something new and terrifying. That time had passed. Pain was now an old acquaintance, one he had met in countless forms.
He remembered the True Gold Body Forging Arts, when molten gold had been poured directly into his flesh, burning through muscle and bone alike. Back then, every breath had felt like inhaling fire, every heartbeat like a hammer striking his ribs from the inside.
