Chapter 3

Luozhen's eyes lit up.

What truly made him unable to accept was not being able to enter the path of immortality, rather than being unable to cultivate true qi.

As long as he could enter the path of immortality, whether or not he cultivated true qi was not important.

Luoning said, "Your mother once said that directly cultivating the physical body can break through the limits of the physical body, and the strength will not be limited to three thousand catties. It can continue to break through. As long as the strength breaks through to over ten thousand catties, one can form a Dao embryo, enter the path of immortality, become a cultivator, and after possessing magical power, one can use their own magical power to unblock the blocked meridians."

Pausing for a moment, Luoning continued, "Cultivating true qi and breaking through to over ten thousand catties is not difficult. Every true qi grandmaster can do it. However, pure physical strength, let alone ten thousand catties, even one thousand catties is as difficult as climbing to the heavens. The key step is breaking through the physical body's limit. Only by breaking through the limit can the physical body's strength not be limited to three thousand catties and continue to improve."

"Father, no matter how difficult it is to cultivate the physical body and form a Dao embryo, I will definitely do it," Luozhen's eyes shone with determination. He was afraid of having no hope. As long as there was a glimmer of possibility, he would not give up. "I must make those who hurt you pay the price."

Luoning understood that the person Luozhen was referring to was Nangong Hao.

Among the ten great young geniuses of the Great Chu Immortal Dynasty, each one's strength was unfathomable, and they all had a great chance of becoming immortals.

Nangong Hao was one of the top five among the ten geniuses, renowned throughout the entire Great Chu Immortal Dynasty. Even the brilliant Luoning from ten years ago was far behind him.

Compared to Nangong Hao, Luozhen was like earth to his sky, with almost no possibility of comparison.

However, having a goal to chase was a good thing, and it had an extraordinary effect on motivating Luozhen. After some thought, Luoning did not speak to stop him.

Luoning changed the topic and looked at the small tripod in Luozhen's hand, saying, "This tripod was obtained by your mother from an ancient forbidden area. She said it should be a remarkable treasure, left for you, which might be helpful to you. However, over the years, I have studied it, used magical power and mental power to detect it, and even dripped blood on it, but none of these methods worked. Your mother also tried these methods and found nothing special about the tripod. However, the tripod is extremely sturdy and cannot be destroyed no matter what. Because of this, your mother determined it to be a treasure. Your strength is about to reach the limit of the Body Tempering stage. If you have a connection with this tripod, perhaps you can discover its secrets."

Luozhen gently stroked the small tripod and, after a while, said, "My mother must have been a great person. Is she still alive?"

Luozhen was just talking to himself because every time he mentioned his mother, Luoning would not answer.

However, this time was an exception. Luoning said, "Perhaps she is dead, perhaps she is still alive. Zhen, if you want to know your mother's whereabouts, you need strength. When you are strong enough, I will naturally tell you about your mother. If you are not strong, from now on, I will not mention her to you at all."

"Father, I will have that day...!" Luozhen said with determination.

His desire to know about his mother was as strong as his hatred for Nangong Hao.

Fortunately, whether it was to find out about his mother or to take revenge on Nangong Hao, for Luozhen, these two goals were not in conflict but shared a common point: the need for strength.

Therefore, he must improve his strength.

Luozhen's will to become stronger had never been as firm and intense as it was at this moment.

Born with blocked meridians?

Unable to cultivate true qi?

Nothing could shake Luozhen's resolve to become stronger.

Time flew by, and three months passed in the blink of an eye.

During these three months, Luozhen trained particularly hard, almost doubling his training time compared to before.

More effort naturally led to more gains.

In just three months, Luozhen's strength had already increased to three thousand catties, and the blood replacement was complete.

Three thousand catties of strength was the limit of the Body Tempering stage and the limit of the physical body. It was almost like a humanoid fierce beast, capable of fighting tigers, leopards, and bears bare-handed.

Once the physical body's strength reached its limit, it could not be improved further unless true qi was generated within the body. With true qi, the strength would continue to increase, and entering the True Qi stage would result in a significant boost in strength.

True Qi stage cultivators could easily kill any fierce beast without much effort and had the strength to fight beasts that had generated demonic qi within their bodies.

Of course, this was limited to those low-level beasts. Truly powerful beasts could fly and burrow, rivaling cultivators.

It had only been three months, and there were still about nine months until the next strength test. At this point, Luozhen had already reached the limit of the Body Tempering stage. If he were not born with blocked meridians and could cultivate true qi, with his talent, his strength would likely skyrocket in the next nine months, and breaking through to ten thousand catties by the time of the test would not be impossible.

Unfortunately, reality was so cruel.

He could not cultivate true qi, and to progress, he had to break through the physical body's limit.

Breaking through the physical body's limit was similar to the Body Tempering stage's strength cultivation but had significant differences.

The Body Tempering stage involved reasonable tempering of the physical body, ensuring the body remained intact while increasing strength.

Breaking through the physical body's limit required exhausting the strength and potential of the body each time, which would stimulate new strength and potential, achieving the effect of breaking through the physical body's limit.

Every morning, Luozhen would come to the training ground early, where there were tripods of various weights, from one hundred catties to one thousand catties.

Luozhen first went to the thousand-catty tripod, lifted it, put it down, lifted it again, and put it down again, repeating the lifting motion.

Once, twice, three times... ten times... twenty times... fifty times... one hundred times...

After lifting the thousand-catty tripod one hundred times, although Luozhen possessed three thousand catties of strength, lifting the thousand-catty tripod one hundred times was extremely strenuous, leaving him panting like a bull.

But he did not stop, continuing to the one hundred and first time...

One hundred and second time... one hundred and tenth time... one hundred and twentieth time...

Before long, Luozhen had lifted the tripod over one hundred and fifty times, not only panting like a bull but also sweating profusely, especially his arms, which felt like they were being cut by a knife.

If he followed his body's instinct, he would have thrown the tripod away and rested, as the feeling was extremely painful.

At this moment, Luozhen felt his will and body completely separated. His body wanted to throw away the tripod, but his will told him not to. To break through the physical body's limit, he had to push his body to its limits.

Although he was in pain, he clearly still had some strength left, far from his limit.

The body ultimately obeyed the will. Luozhen continued the lifting motion, his breathing becoming more rapid, his sweat flowing more, and his pain intensifying...

One hundred and sixtieth time... one hundred and seventieth time...

Two hundredth time...

After lifting the tripod two hundred times, the intense pain in his arms made Luozhen's eyes water.

This was the body's instinctive reaction, and his endurance was almost at its limit. However, Luozhen did not throw away the tripod, and the lifting motion continued.

His will was exceptionally strong compared to his body's instinct. Even though the intense pain made him cry, he did not stop.

Two hundred and fiftieth time... two hundred and sixtieth time... two hundred and seventieth time... two hundred and seventy-first time...

When Luozhen lifted the thousand-catty tripod for the two hundred and seventy-first time, his arm finally trembled, and with a loud thud, the thousand-catty tripod fell to the ground.

Luozhen's body also lost balance, and he immediately knelt on one knee, leaning forward on the other leg.

His arms felt like they had lost all strength and hung limply at his sides.

Many of the younger generation in the training ground looked at Luozhen in surprise, their eyes filled with confusion, not understanding why he was pushing his body to such an extreme, as it did not significantly improve his strength.

Moreover, seeing Luozhen lift the thousand-catty tripod over two hundred times, it was clear that his strength had increased significantly since the last test, even if it was not yet three thousand catties, it was not far off.

Logically, Luozhen should now focus on increasing his strength to the Body Tempering limit and then prepare to enter the True Qi stage.

"Brother Luozhen, why are you so exhausted?" A beautiful young girl walked over, it was Jiang Ruoqing.

Luozhen panted for a while, and the pain in his arms quickly subsided. He stood up and nodded slightly to Jiang Ruoqing, "Training."

After a brief rest, Luozhen's arms regained some strength. He walked to a three-hundred-catty tripod, lifted it onto his shoulder, and started running, quickly leaving the training ground.

The previous lifting of the tripod had almost reached the limit of his arms' endurance. Next, he needed to train his legs.

Although he could run with a thousand-catty tripod, the pressure was too great, and his strength would likely be exhausted before his body reached its limit, potentially collapsing under the weight. Running with a three-hundred-catty tripod was more suitable.

The Luo family, as the top cultivation family in Pingyang County, occupied a vast area, spanning several miles. Luozhen began running around the entire Luo family estate.

By the time he completed one lap, he was already panting like a dog. By the second lap, his legs felt like they were filled with lead.

Running with the tripod was not as painful as lifting it, but it was more exhausting. The tripod on his back made it difficult to take steps, and he was breathing heavily.

However, Luozhen gritted his teeth. Whenever he felt like giving up, he thought of Nangong Hao or his mother, and a surge of strength would support him.

Finally, he completed the second lap and started the third.

Before he completed a third of the third lap, with a loud thud, Luozhen and the tripod fell to the ground. His body lay like a dead dog, unable to move, truly reaching his limit.

After more than a hundred breaths, Luozhen finally moved, slowly getting up, walking to the tripod, taking a deep breath, lifting it again, and heading back to the training ground.