The catch inspired my entry: Persistence will eventually lead to invincibility.

The next day, at the agreed time.

Chen Shi joined the Canglang Gang.

However, compared to usual, there were far fewer people to be seen today.

Perhaps they were summoned to the river mouth to strengthen defenses.

Chen Shi went straight to a small house near Canglang Hall. He knocked on the door, and soon an old man with white hair came to open it. The old man in front of him was none other than Pharmacist Hong, whom he had met yesterday.

"Please come in," Pharmacist Hong warmly invited Chen Shi to sit down.

"Is the precious medicine I need for skin resurfacing ready?" Chen Shi took a sip of tea and cut straight to the point.

He didn't want to waste any more time and wanted to hone his physique as quickly as possible to make himself stronger.

"As instructed by Steward Shen, it has been completed."

After speaking, Pharmacist Hong turned around and brought over a mortar and pestle, placing it on the wooden table in front of Chen Shi. Pharmacist Hong pointed to the dark green, viscous liquid inside and said, "After conditioning and neutralization, this precious medicine can now be applied directly externally."

After saying that, he gestured for Chen Shi to expose his limbs.

"I will apply the medicine evenly to Brother Chen's skin shortly," Pharmacist Hong reminded him. "Although I have used herbs to neutralize it, the Water Sprout grows underwater in the dark and has an extremely strong coldness, so it cannot completely remove its coldness. Please bear with it, Brother Chen."

"Of course, this little hardship is nothing," Chen Shi nodded in response.

Seeing this, Pharmacist Hong nodded slightly. Then he evenly applied the thick paste in the mortar to every inch of Chen Shi's skin. The skin covered by the dark green paste quickly turned red, but this was not caused by the burning sensation produced by the water caltrop paste.

On the contrary, Chen Shi now felt chilled to the bone; the skin covered by the thick ointment felt as cold as if it were in direct contact with ice.

Chen Shi gritted his teeth and breathed heavily.

He has now mastered the art of manipulating Qi and blood, and can actively control the flow rate of Qi and blood to raise or lower the core temperature and maintain a relatively stable state.

About fifteen minutes had passed.

The precious medicine in the mortar had been completely applied to Chen Shi's skin.

"It's so cold... It feels like lying naked on a block of ice..."

Chen Shi pondered to himself, then got up and went outside.

He drew the long sword from his waist and practiced his swordsmanship in the open space.

This action was intended to more quickly mobilize the body's Qi and blood to resist the coldness brought by this precious medicine.

Time passed little by little.

By the time the sun set, Chen Shi could no longer feel the coldness brought by the precious medicine, and the blood and qi in his body gradually returned to normal.

"That's it?" Chen Shi frowned slightly.

He did not feel any obvious changes in his body.

Shen Lang had told him that his skin would improve after using the precious medicine. But now, Chen Shi felt no change whatsoever, as if he had never used this precious medicine made from water hyacinth.

Do I need to guide my Qi and blood again?

Just as Chen Shi thought this way, a strange phenomenon occurred.

The blood and qi in my body, which should have been calm, suddenly became restless.

And then, a miraculous scene unfolded right before our eyes.

Suddenly, his arms began to swell, as if someone was constantly pumping air between his skin and muscles, causing his skin to bulge. This phenomenon started in his arms and quickly spread throughout his body, making Chen Shi look extremely bloated.

However, what should have been an extremely painful process for outsiders, Chen Shi felt no pain at all. Instead, he felt incredibly comfortable, as if he were jumping into a river to cool off on a hot summer day.

Moreover, the swelling of the skin did not last long.

It shrinks rapidly, like a balloon with a hole punctured, as an invisible but perceptible layer of energy merges with the surface, and its color gradually changes.

The whole process lasted fifteen minutes.

When everything returned to calm, Chen Shi's face was filled with smiles.

Because right after this strange phenomenon ended, a faint brass color appeared on the surface of his skin, undulating with the fluctuations of his blood and qi.

It is the color of brass and has a clanging sound when touched.

This membrane is a symbol of how he broke through the skin barrier and polished it to the "copper skin" level.

"This...this is unbelievable!"

Hong Yaoshi, who had witnessed the entire process, was so shocked that he was speechless.

Although he did not practice martial arts, he knew quite a bit about martial arts.

Seeing the familiar brass color, he naturally understood that Chen Shi had polished the surface to the limit, achieving the "copper skin" level that many martial artists pursued.

Although most martial artists could achieve this level of skill, Chen Shi had never seen anyone do it in such a short time, less than a day.

Chen Shi himself was also excited.

However, after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this was the more reasonable approach.

After all, he had consumed two treasure fish and used a treasure herb. If, with such enhancements, he still had to spend ten days or more in the skin-refining stage, just like other martial artists, wouldn't all these precious resources have been wasted?

"By the way, Pharmacist Hong, where is Master Shen now?"

Although he knew Shen Lang wasn't in the Canglang Gang today, and Chen Shi had planned not to contact him, he couldn't help but want to tell Shen Lang the good news that his skin smoothing was completed and that it was so excellent, as soon as possible.

Pharmacist Hong shook his head and said, "I don't know about that."

"Steward Shen usually doesn't leave Canglang Hall for too long, unless there are problems at several river mouths. However, this possibility is not high. There are stewards stationed at each river mouth. Their strength is extraordinary. Ordinary sea thieves simply cannot defeat stewards."

"I understand, thank you, Pharmacist Hong," Chen Shi replied, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Shi left the Canglang Gang.

A short while later, at the Fallen Dragon Marsh.

Chen Shi steered the sampan at breakneck speed.

He has already replaced the fishing nets and is now heading to the [Suppressing Water Stele]. Counting the days, he needs to finish writing the water patrol log today, submit it to the Water Supervision Office for review, and then retrieve it to rewrite it.

Along the way, Chen Shi glanced at the entry panel.

[Digestion (Level 1): Your digestion speed is improved, resulting in higher nutrient utilization.]

[Advanced Path: Upgrades as the Bigmouth Catfish levels up]

[Spirit Fish: Largemouth Catfish (Tier 1)]

[Ferocious in nature, with an extremely strong digestive system, capable of swallowing prey of its own size.]

[Advanced Path: Consume 57 of any type of fish]

The speed at which the large mouth swallowed food increased faster and faster.

In just a few days, he has eaten more than forty fish.

"At this rate, I can get Big Mouth to the second tier very soon," Chen Shi thought to himself.

Just when Chen Shi thought that today was just another routine patrol, the scene that appeared before him made him freeze on the spot, his pupils shrinking.

All that could be seen was the previously intact [Suppressing Water Stele].

At this moment, several cracks suddenly appeared on the surface.

............

Night in Sanli Town.

Near a river mouth under the jurisdiction of the Canglang Gang.

The ground was littered with corpses, not those of the sea thieves, but members of the Canglang Gang, including the bodies of two deacons.

"Shen Lang!"

At this moment, a man arrived riding on water, high above like a monarch. He appeared before the crowd, his voice not loud, yet full of majesty.

"haven't seen you for a long time......"