Chapter 4

Returning to the training ground, Luo Zhen began his final exercise, hanging upside down, then stretching his hands upward, bending over to touch his knees with his head.

After finishing the exercises for his hands and legs, it was now time to exercise his waist.

Luo Zhen did this over a thousand times before he fell down, completely exhausted.

By the end of the day, Luo Zhen felt light-headed from head to toe, almost drained of all his strength, and his physical endurance was pushed to its limits.

However, there was not the slightest hint of breaking through his physical limits.

Luo Zhen was not discouraged. Breaking through physical limits was definitely not easy; it required dozens or even hundreds of times of pushing his body to its limits before there would be any hope of breaking through.

He was prepared to continue exercising every day, exhausting his strength and reaching the limit of his physical endurance...

If one day wasn't enough, then ten days; if ten days weren't enough, then a month; if a month wasn't enough, then three months; if three months weren't enough, then half a year...

He would persist until the day he broke through his physical limits.

After a day of intense training, Luo Zhen's dinner portion was almost triple what it usually was, and the food was noticeably more luxurious, with many dishes being highly nourishing and valuable.

Luo Zhen's intense training for a day had greatly depleted his body's potential. Without proper nourishment, his method of training would likely cause him to collapse and die from exhaustion before he could break through his physical limits.

Fortunately, Luo Ning, as the head of the Luo family, although not all-powerful, was still the most powerful figure in the family. With his status as the head, his authority was even greater than that of the Grand Elder Luo Feng, who was also at the peak of the Dao Embryo stage. Mobilizing family resources was effortless for Luo Ning.

Even among the core direct descendants of the Luo family, few could enjoy the food that Luo Zhen ate every day.

"Where's Jingting?"

Luo Zhen, who was exhausted to death, only noticed that little Jingting was not there after finishing his meal.

Usually, Jingting would eat with Luo Ning and Luo Zhen.

"She's sleeping," Luo Ning said.

"Sleeping? It's already evening. Did she sleep all day? Is she sick?" Luo Zhen asked in surprise.

Although Jingting's talent was poor, she was very diligent and practiced every day. In Luo Zhen's view, it was almost impossible for her to sleep all day unless she was sick.

Luo Ning shook his head and said, "You don't need to worry about her. Ting'er's bloodline is about to awaken. This sleep will last a long time... the longer she sleeps, the higher her talent."

"Jingting's bloodline? What bloodline does she have?" Luo Zhen asked with great interest.

Anything related to bloodline usually had a significant background.

Jingting was brought back by Luo Ning from outside. Because of her poor talent, she was not well-liked in the Luo family. Now it seemed that Jingting was not ordinary.

Luo Ning gave Luo Zhen a cold look but did not answer.

The next day, Luo Zhen continued his极限锻炼.

The third day...

The fourth day...

Soon, ten days passed, and Jingting indeed slept for a long time. She had not woken up even after ten days.

Jingting's continuous absence for ten days did not attract much attention from the Luo family, but Luo Zhen's intense training, which left him exhausted every day, left everyone puzzled as to why.

Time passed like water, and before they knew it, a month had gone by, and Jingting was still in a deep sleep.

Luo Zhen continued his intense training every day, exhausted like a dead dog, but there was no sign of breaking through his physical limits...

Breaking through physical limits was indeed not an easy task. If it weren't for Luo Zhen's astonishing willpower, few others could have persisted for a whole month of pushing themselves to their limits.

Days went by as usual: training, eating, sleeping... the cycle repeated daily.

This day was slightly different. After dinner, Luo Ning gave Luo Zhen a medicine box containing a Jingcao plant that was over 100 years old.

Jingcao was a first-grade spirit medicine. The number of years it had grown determined how much strength it could add to the body.

A 100-year-old Jingcao could increase physical strength by 100 pounds, and a 1000-year-old Jingcao could increase it by 1000 pounds.

For a Body Tempering stage martial artist, Jingcao was extremely valuable and quite expensive.

However, Luo Zhen's body had already reached its limit, and no spirit medicine could help increase his strength unless he broke through his physical limits.

Luo Ning gave him the Jingcao not to increase his strength but to nourish his body.

Even with the nourishing food he ate every day, it was difficult to fully replenish the loss of his body's essence. After a month of training, he needed the help of spirit medicine to restore his essence.

Breaking through physical limits was not only difficult but also required a large amount of nourishing food every day. One month of training required one spirit herb, which was not something an ordinary person could afford.

Time passed quickly, day after day, month after month.

As time went on, Jingting's disappearance began to attract some attention from the Luo family, but when they asked Luo Ning, and learned that she was in a deep sleep, no one paid much attention.

On the contrary, Luo Zhen's continuous intense training for several months increased the attention he received from the Luo family.

For six months, Luo Zhen pushed himself to his limits every day, exhausting his strength and potential, but there was still no sign of breaking through his physical limits.

Now, apart from a significant improvement in his endurance, his strength had not increased at all.

The difficulty of breaking through physical limits exceeded Luo Zhen's imagination. Even with his strong will, he had some doubts: Was this a dead end? Was it impossible?

However, every time he thought of Nan Gong Hao or his mother, Luo Zhen's wavering heart would calm down.

Over time, Luo Zhen's intense training also revealed some signs to certain people.

For six months, Luo Zhen's strength seemed to have not changed much, even to the naked eye. Many people speculated that Luo Zhen might be stuck at the Body Tempering limit and had not yet entered the True Qi stage for some reason.

Of course, this was just speculation, and it was hard to be certain. The true situation would be revealed by this year's strength test.

If everything was normal, Luo Zhen should have entered the True Qi stage, with a strength of at least 5000 pounds, and it was very likely that his strength would far exceed 5000 pounds. Even a strength of 10,000 pounds would not be surprising given Luo Zhen's potential.

If Luo Zhen's strength was stuck at 3000 pounds, it would confirm that he was stuck at the Body Tempering limit and had not entered the True Qi stage.

Generally, every cultivator had a bottleneck, which could be high or low. For those with poor talent, the bottleneck might be at the Body Tempering limit, making it impossible to enter the True Qi stage. But that was only for those with poor talent.

Given Luo Zhen's exceptional talent, no one believed he would be stuck even at the True Qi limit, let alone the Body Tempering limit.

Time flew by, and soon, about three months had passed, and it was December.

The Luo family's annual strength test was approaching, and this year's test was more attractive than ever.

This year, the prodigious genius Luo Zhen of the Luo family would enter the True Qi stage, and everyone wanted to know how much his strength would increase after entering the True Qi stage.

On December 10th, two days before the test, Jingting woke up.

She had slept for almost nine months.

When she woke up, her overall mental state had changed significantly.

During her nine months of sleep, Jingting's height had increased by nearly 20 centimeters. She was no longer short; instead, she looked tall and slender for an 11-year-old girl, like a 13- or 14-year-old.

Her skin had become snow-white and smooth, and her eyes no longer held the look of inferiority but instead had a newfound confidence.

In short, after this long sleep, Jingting had undergone a tremendous transformation, like an ugly duckling turning into a swan.

When Luo Zhen first saw Jingting, he was momentarily stunned. She was completely different from the little girl he remembered.

"Luo Zhen big brother...!" However, the little girl was still as clingy to Luo Zhen as ever, hugging his arm with admiration in her eyes.

On December 12th, the day of the test arrived.

This year, more guests came than last year, at least 20% more, and the training ground was filled with guests.

"Luo Zhen cousin...!"

"Luo Zhen younger cousin...!"

"Luo Zhen cousin...!"

"Luo Zhen younger cousin...!"

...

As last year, all the younger generations of the Luo family, whether from the main line or the collateral line, greeted Luo Zhen enthusiastically.

Although Luo Zhen spent most of the year in intense training, which left everyone puzzled, his reputation as a genius was deeply ingrained in everyone's mind.

Even his strange actions were seen as profound and mysterious by others.

When all the younger generations arrived at the training ground, the test began, and the first to step up was Luo Yun.

The result came out: Luo Yun's strength was 1872 pounds, indicating he had reached the peak of the Organ Tempering stage.

Luo Yun's strength had increased by over 500 pounds this year, which was about 100 pounds more than last year. It was normal for a martial artist's strength to increase more as they progressed.

However, if the increase in strength was smaller, it indicated that the tester's potential was declining and they were approaching a bottleneck.

Many others followed, each showing improvement compared to last year. At the Body Tempering stage, unless one had particularly poor talent, it was rare to encounter a bottleneck.

Soon, it was the turn of the 17th participant, Luo Yu.

He was the second most prominent figure among the younger generations of the Luo family, and many guests were particularly interested in his growth.

Luo Yu approached the strength testing stone and delivered a punch. The result came out quickly: 2497 pounds, indicating he had reached the initial stage of the Blood Transformation stage.