"Kid, die!"

Bearman's face was vicious as he raised his hand and delivered a punch. His arm, as if forged from steel and cast iron, ripped through the air, creating a fierce gust of wind.

Lu Yuan squinted slightly, seemingly disregarding the incoming punch.

With an unhurried disposition, he casually extended his hand to intercept it.

An invisible aura suddenly radiated from his entire body, the bright golden Light of Vigor pulsing like fire.

A giant white crane simultaneously extended its claws in sync with him...

Lv.2 [Spirit Crane Skill: Mistakenly Picked Immortal Orchid]!

Lv.1 [Spirit Crane True Intention]!

Accompanied by a low, shrill whistle, Bearman barely registered Lu Yuan's movement before an irresistible penetrating force, striking true despite a delayed initiation, pierced through him!

BANG—!

Bearman was briefly airborne, his eyes bulging, his chest caving in.

Lu Yuan's five fingers clamped onto his chest, brutally shoving him backward before he crashed onto the ground with a BOOM!

Lu Yuan released his grip.

Expressionless, he withdrew his hand and clenched it into a fist.

His towering, over-two-meter-tall frame coiled like a great bow, Vigor converging in his fist.

The incorporeal white crane gathered its power, its sharp beak like an arrow.

Lv.2 [Spirit Crane Skill: Crane Shadow Floating in the Air]!

The bow was drawn taut.

He struck!

BOOM!

His fist slammed ruthlessly onto Bearman's chest. Bearman's limbs reflexively shot upward.

The white stone tiles beneath him shattered into large pieces, scattering and curling up to reveal a mysterious metallic layer underneath...

Just as Bearman swayed and struggled to his feet...

Lu Yuan's eyes flashed with brilliance. He leaped several meters into the air and executed a reverse kick.

Dragon Tail Flick!

Even though it was a simple imitation of the Swimming Dragon's technique, not yet fully comprehended or unlocked...

The power of the kick was still immense. It directly struck Bearman's head, sending him flying like a kicked ball...

Overwhelming!

Complete and utter dominance in every aspect!

In his Second Stage Ultimate Power Transformation state, Lu Yuan's instantaneous Fist Strength exceeded twenty tons!

Combined with the amplification from Vigor and the enhancing effect of True Intention on his Sure-kill techniques, each of his explosive moves carried a force surpassing thirty tons, even up to forty tons!

Under Lu Yuan's assault, Bearman could barely fight back.

Both are A+ level, yet Bearman's strength compared to Swimming Dragon's... seems far too weak?

"No."

Lu Yuan calmly walked step by step toward the fallen Bearman.

"I'm just too strong."

"Moreover, Bearman was rated A+ level... it seems it wasn't for his combat power."

Bearman's instantaneous burst power didn't exceed ten tons, his speed wasn't high, and his combat skills were average...

But in one aspect, he far surpassed Swimming Dragon—

He was unkillable! Or rather, very difficult to kill.

From the moment the fight began, it was a completely one-sided slaughter.

Lu Yuan was using Bearman as a punching bag.

He unleashed a series of Crane Sect's Sure-kill combos on him, along with hybrid Sure-kills combining Dragon Sect and Crane Sect techniques.

Had it been Swimming Dragon, Lu Yuan would have already beaten him into a pulp, utterly and irrevocably dead.

Yet Bearman was still holding on.

His vitality seemed extraordinarily tenacious, or perhaps it was...

Adaptability?

Lu Yuan, feeling the omnipresent pressure around him, looked thoughtful.

He had now almost completely adapted to this twenty-g environment.

His constitution was monstrously resilient, his internal organs preternaturally robust.

After activating his Second Transformation, the twenty-g environment had a negligible effect on him.

Furthermore, with the protection of his True Intention...

Yes.

True Intention was surprisingly effective in resisting the oppressive gravity.

Lu Yuan speculated that it might be a reinforcement of his willpower, allowing his body to "ignore" the influence of external pressure to a great extent.

Not only that, Lu Yuan discovered that under the influence of gravity...

His True Intention had also become somewhat more condensed.

The enhancement to his techniques had increased by roughly... ten percent?!

External pressure has a profound tempering effect on a Fighter's spirit and willpower. It's not strange for True Intention to improve. Perhaps this is the direction for Ancient Martial Arts to advance after reaching the True Intention stage: continuously refining True Intention, until...

Lu Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, a brand-new idea vaguely forming in his mind.

TAP.

Lu Yuan walked up to Bearman.

Bearman lay on the ground like a pile of sludge.

Lu Yuan had shattered almost every bone in his body.

Compared to his initial appearance, as sturdy as if forged from steel and cast iron...

He now resembled a thoroughly battered sculpture.

Yet, his life signs remained strong.

"You..."

Half of Bearman's face was pressed against the ground. He struggled to force one eye open, staring intently at Lu Yuan.

Intense shock, fear, and resentment oozed from that eye.

"...Monster."

Lu Yuan stared at him, his sharp senses clearly perceiving that the injuries in Bearman's body were healing, bit by bit.

He sighed lightly and said, "Likewise. You took the words right out of my mouth."

Ancient Martial Arts and modification really can't compare. Once practitioners reach A+ level, the gap becomes especially prominent. It's not just about combat power, but it's reflected in various aspects...

Lu Yuan bent down and picked up Bearman as if lifting a limp, worn-out sack.

He walked step by step toward the entrance.

The mission concerning Bearman should be considered complete.

But Lu Yuan wasn't planning to leave yet.

Bearman still had his uses—he was the 'remote control' for the current gravity chamber; Lu Yuan planned to use him to adjust the gravity multiplier.

The gravity chamber was very useful for Lu Yuan's Martial Arts cultivation.

Under twenty times gravity, the three body tempering methods on his Fighter panel progressed as if on steroids; the Experience Points skyrocketed.

The fight just now had caused the Experience Points for [Ten Thousand Refining Body], [Steel Bone], and [Spirit Crane Body] to rise significantly.

And this was merely the effect of twenty times gravity.

If he could remain in a fifty-g, seventy-g, or even a hundred-g environment for an extended period...

What kind of growth rate would that yield?

Lu Yuan was eager. He had already made up his mind.

He decided to spend all the remaining ten-odd days of this New Blood Assessment in this gravity chamber.

Compared to the gravity chamber, completing the final S-rank mission... now seemed unimportant.

He'd just grind this instance.

Once Bearman's injuries recovered, he'd just beat him half to death again.

It would not only aid his body tempering cultivation and earn him Fighter class Experience Points, but he could also study the secrets of Bearman's physique.

It was a threefold benefit.

My mind has become so much sharper since breaking the intelligence limit... Lu Yuan thought with satisfaction. Carrying Bearman, he walked to a position five meters from the main entrance.

He took another step forward.

BUZZ—

The hemispherical devices on the floor glowed brighter, and the pressure on Lu Yuan intensified.

Thirty times gravity.

Lu Yuan showed no reaction, merely staring at his Fighter panel.

He saw the Experience Points for his three body tempering methods begin to climb.

He took another step forward.

Forty times gravity.

The rate at which the Experience Points for the three body tempering methods climbed increased.

Another step.

Fifty times gravity.

Sixty times gravity.

Seventy times...

Eighty times...

When he was less than two meters from the entrance he'd used to come in.

Lu Yuan felt the gravity currently active in the chamber had reached approximately one hundred times normal.

Under this level of gravity, Lu Yuan felt immense pressure.

His heart rate slowed, blood flow became sluggish, his thoughts dulled, muscles tensed involuntarily, and his bones creaked...

Even his breathing... grew heavy.

At this point, the Experience Points for the three body tempering methods on his Fighter panel were all nearing the threshold for an upgrade.

Lu Yuan's Spirit Crane True Intention was also compressed and refined to an extreme.

The giant, incorporeal white crane was now about half its original size, yet it appeared incredibly vivid, as if one could discern every feather.

It's almost time...

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, feeling that this gravity multiplier was approaching his physical limit.

He planned to train at this intensity for now and continue forward once he adapted.

BANG!

Lu Yuan released his grip, and the Bearman he was holding slammed to the ground.

Under one hundred times gravity, Bearman's body weighed a staggering ten-plus tons!

This 'remote control' was certainly heavy.

The sound of him hitting the floor was like a colossal object landing, making the ground tremble slightly.

Bearman, already limp, was utterly flattened into a pile of mush by the impact.

But... he still wasn't dead.

Fortunately, he hadn't died.

Lu Yuan glanced at Bearman. Sensing his 'remote control' was still alive, he prepared to ignore him.

Just then, however, Bearman's misshapen mouth twitched open, and a faint sound emerged.

"Hmm?"

Lu Yuan frowned, looking at the Bearman beneath his feet.

From Bearman's sole remaining eyeball, he thought he detected a faint trace of... Joy?!

"What did you say?"

Lu Yuan slowly crouched, bracing his hands on the ground, and quietly observed the Bearman before him.

Bearman's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, the sounds he made growing fainter and fainter.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes, focusing on Bearman's mouth, and gently extended his Spiritual Power... Again and again... Finally, he 'read' what Bearman was trying to say.

He was saying—

"Thank you."

SWOOSH—

Instinct compelled Lu Yuan to abruptly raise his hand; even under the hundred-g pressure, the movement ripped through the air with a sharp sound.

But Lu Yuan's eyes flickered, and his raised right fist hesitated, not falling.

The Bearman beneath him seemed to grin, a terribly gruesome sight.

From the feature that could barely be called a mouth, he slowly spat out a crystalline core that was constantly flashing with red light.

Then, his entire body began to melt like water.

At an incredible speed, he 'flowed' out of the white stone-tiled area and into the zone near the entrance. The crushing pressure there abruptly vanished. He then swiftly seeped into the ground, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Lu Yuan's heart jolted. By the time he reacted and tried to grab Bearman...

The crystalline core Bearman had left behind suddenly radiated an intense red light.

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted violently. An unprecedented, terrifying pressure instantly slammed down on him!

Two hundred times gravity!

BOOM!

The entire vast gravity chamber seemed to violently sink down a notch.

A large amount of white powder billowed up like a dust cloud, obscuring vision within the room.

Seconds ticked by.

A few seconds later,

From the white dust that had yet to completely settle, a figure exuding a primal, savage aura suddenly burst forth.

THUD. He landed firmly on the ground.

His long black hair flowed freely behind him, cascading down to his waist.

The flesh and muscles all over his body rippled like waves.

On his reddened skin, smooth, crimson blood vessels radiated densely from his heart, spreading across his entire chest and abdomen. They extended to his back, intertwining with the distorted, knotted muscles... to form a vast, bizarre, yet captivatingly beautiful pattern.

It resembled a budding... blood-red lotus!

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!—

The mission watch on his wrist, miraculously intact despite the terrifying gravity, emitted urgent beeping alerts.

Lu Yuan didn't even glance at it.

Under the influence of Lv.1 [Unconquerable Instinct], his eyes, now imbued with a kind of primal demonic power, stared intently at the ground beneath his feet.

He murmured, I need to get... the 'remote control' back...

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