AHumanMadeMOFO
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Chapter 212: I Can Spend the Whole Day with You (1)
🕑 Added 2025-02-07 16:14:12 +0000 UTCMargaret and Francesca drank the Elixir from the Pool of Eternal Life, but nothing like the scenes in fantasy novels happened—no foul substances being expelled from their pores, no sudden urge to rush to the bathroom.
They just felt more refreshed, as if their bodies had undergone a deep rejuvenation. Their skin glowed and they even looked a few years younger.
"This is amazing! What kind of water is this? It tastes just like regular spring water, but I feel so much more energized after drinking it," Margaret said in awe, turning to Josh.
"It's nothing special, just a unique kind of water. As long as it makes you feel good, that's all that matters. I'll give you some every month, so don't ask too many questions," Josh replied with a slight smile, keeping things vague.
Although he trusted these two women, some things were better left unsaid—especially when it came to something as supernatural as the Pool of Eternal Life.
Actually, the name "Pool of Eternal Life" wasn't entirely accurate. "Pool of Agelessness" would be a better term.
Just drinking the elixir didn't grant true immortality—after all, even Zi Yuan and her daughter's immortality didn't come from the elixir.
If a single sip could grant eternal life, then when O'Connell was on the verge of death in the movie, Zi Yuan's use of the elixir should have made him immortal as well. But it didn't.
And if the elixir really did grant eternal life, then when Alex O'Connell was pursuing Lin, she wouldn't have had to say, "I don't want to watch you die. She could've just given him a cup of the Elixir.
Of course, neither of them gained immortality.
The Elixir was powerful, but not to that extent. Immortality wasn't something that could be obtained so easily.
Zi Yuan and her daughter's eternal life didn't come from the Elixir, but from the blessing of Shangri-La itself—much like Hela's immortality in Thor: Ragnarok was tied to Asgard.
As long as Shangri-La existed, Zi Yuan and her daughter remained immortal.
But this came at a price—they had to swear an oath to protect Shangri-La for eternity.
However, in the final battle, Zi Yuan sacrificed her immortality to awaken the vengeful spirits, breaking the oath and losing her eternal life.
As for the The Eye of Shangri-La, it was more like a physical manifestation of Shangri-La's power—a core part of its essence.
Its Elixir had miraculous healing properties, could restore youth and prolong life, but true immortality required long-term consumption.
Even the Dragon Emperor's immortality didn't come from the elixir itself. Instead, he used the Pool of Eternal Life as a medium to absorb the Source Energy of Shangri-La.
This is what the Dragon Emperor told Cai Lin after he gained a portion of Shangri-La's power.
Though he didn't violently destroy the source like in the movie, his extraction of its essence significantly weakened its effects. It would take at least a thousand years to recover.
Cai Lin, understanding the situation, didn't hide any of this from Josh. She even set a very low price for the elixir, as Josh's deep knowledge of her world made her cautious.
So she couldn't be sure if Josh had a way to verify the effectiveness of the Pool of Eternal Life. Although the benefits of the source seemed great, they were insignificant compared to Josh, the master of the dimensional trading system.
Cai Lin was smart. She knew that her ability to stay with the Dragon Emperor depended on the dimensional beacon she carried. If she lost Josh as a trading partner, she would become worthless in the eyes of the Dragon Emperor.
On the other hand, even if Josh lost her as a trading partner, he could always find others.
So she couldn't afford to offend Josh.
Josh didn't have much to say about this situation... What could he do? Go to the Mummy Universe and beat up the Dragon Emperor? That wasn't even possible.
Fortunately, the Pool of Eternal Life still worked, just not as powerful as before. According to the Dragon Emperor's advice to Cai Lin, drinking it once a month would still allow someone to live for several centuries.
By then, Josh would probably have found a better way to achieve longevity, so the weakened Pool of Eternal Life didn't really matter.
Besides the less effective elixir, Josh also received something else from Cai Lin—the Five Elements Technique that the Dragon Emperor had practiced in his early days.
Of course, the Dragon Emperor wouldn't share his personal technique.
Even if he did, Josh wouldn't be able to practice it.
It was a technique based on faith, where the ruler embodied the will of an entire empire—Qin is me, and I am Qin.
That's why when Zi Yuan cursed him, the entire Qin army was cursed along with him.
Josh had no interest in such things.
However, the Five Elements Technique seemed harmless enough.
However, the Five Element Technique in the mummy universe wasn't as powerful as those in cultivation novels. It only allowed the user to manipulate the five elements to a certain degree—it was control, not creation.
For example, with fire, if there weren't any flammable materials or oxygen, even if Josh mastered the spell, he wouldn't be able to create flames out of thin air.
The strength of control also depended on the progress.
It wasn't overwhelmingly powerful, but if used properly, it could still be quite effective.
Of course, Josh had just acquired the technique, and he was still far from mastering it. He also had to thank the system's translation function—without it, he wouldn't even dare to try to learn it.
The spells were all written on bamboo slips in ancient seal script. Without a translation, he wouldn't even be able to read them, let alone practice them.
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Seeing that Josh didn't want to talk much about the elixir, Margaret wisely didn't ask any more.
And since Margaret didn't ask, her maid Francesca didn't dare either.
When Josh and Margaret followed Francesca to the training ground, the two fighters were already engaged in battle.
As soon as the onlookers noticed the arrival of their boss, they quickly made room, even bringing chairs.
However, many of them couldn't help but steal a glance at Margaret and Francesca.
There was no doubt that both women were stunning.
But they weren't new faces—everyone had seen them before, and over time they had become accustomed to their beauty. Since both were close to Josh, no one dared to stare for too long.
But tonight felt different.
For some reason, both Margaret and Francesca seemed exceptionally radiant, making it hard not to steal extra glances.
Even they found it strange.
Their outfits hadn't changed much from earlier in the day.
But as subordinates, they could only steal glances and didn't dare to comment or ask questions.
Only Vito was an exception.
As Josh’s most trusted bodyguard and assistant, Vito was naturally aboard the ship as well.
However, just like when they were back home, Vito didn’t stick to Josh’s side every second while on the private yacht.
Now that he saw his sister and the boss's wife suddenly looking so radiant, he couldn't help but be curious.
If it weren't for the fact that Margaret had also changed significantly, he might have suspected that his sister had spent the night with Josh—after all, in his experience, a woman's appearance only changed like that after receiving a man's "nourishment".
And if that were the case, Vito would actually be happy.
Not because he wanted to sell out his sister for personal gain—being Josh’s right-hand man, he had no need for that.
It was simply that after following Josh for so long and seeing so much, Vito felt that few men in the world were worthy of his sister. If nothing else, they had to be stronger than him, right?
If his sister was going to settle for some random guy in the future, she might as well just be with Josh.
The only problem was that her boss seemed to be too loyal.
Even though he was surrounded by beautiful women, not one of them had managed to move up the ranks. Compared to other big-shot bosses—especially someone like Howard Stark—Josh was practically the complete opposite.
