Chapter 3762: Checking The Corpse

Lin Mu slowly approached the figure lying within the cave.

For several seconds, none of them spoke for the sight before them was simply too strange. It was not the corpse itself that shocked them, it was the condition it was in.

The young man should have been dead for over a month according to the information Ashy had gathered. Even if the ravine was cold and isolated, a corpse left unattended for that long should have shown some signs of decay.

This one did not.

The body looked almost fresh.

"Is he alive?" Xiao Yang muttered.

The black serpent slithered forward before flicking his tongue repeatedly.

A moment later he shook his head.

"No. Definitely dead."

Xiao Yin frowned.

"Then how is he still in such good condition?" she asked.

Lin Mu had the same question.

He crouched beside the body and carefully examined it.

The man was nearly two meters tall and broad shouldered. His physique was powerful in a very natural way. There were no signs of specialized body cultivation techniques or immortal energies strengthening him.

Every muscle appeared to have been forged through labor, hardship, and pure physical growth. His hands were rough and his skin was tanned. There were also countless calluses across his palms.

His face was somewhat coarse and weathered despite his young age, though there was nothing intimidating about it. He looked like the sort of hardworking young man one would expect to find plowing fields or carrying harvests rather than fighting immortal beasts.

Lin Mu soon noticed the scars.

There were many of them.

Some were old and fully healed while others appeared newer. Several wounds on his arms and shoulders looked like they had been sustained shortly before his death. And one scar along his forehead seemed especially recent.

As Lin Mu examined the injuries and compared them to the craters outside, a clear picture slowly formed in his mind.

The man had fallen.

Then survived.

Little Bull had somehow fallen into the Broken Gate Ravine and landed at the bottom without dying. The first crater they had discovered was likely the result of that initial impact. Most people would have perished instantly.

Yet Little Bull had not.

After surviving, he had attempted to climb out.

The alcoves scattered along the walls suddenly made perfect sense, they were handholds. Every one of them had been punched into the stone by Little Bull himself.

Lin Mu could almost imagine the process.

The young man would leap upward, punch his hands into the cliff face, pull himself higher, then continue climbing. Eventually exhaustion would catch up to him, his grip would fail, then he would fall.

The impact would create another crater.

After recovering, he would try again.

And again.

And again.

Every crater below represented another failed attempt and every handhold carved into the walls represented another struggle to survive. The image was both inspiring and tragic. It was clear that Little Bull had possessed astonishing determination.

Most people would have surrendered after a few failures, but the man had continued until the very end.

"He really kept trying." Xiao Yin whispered quietly.

Lin Mu nodded.

"He did."

His immortal sense swept across the ravine once more. Now that he understood what he was seeing, the evidence became obvious.

There were hundreds of handholds.

Hundreds.

Little Bull had spent days, perhaps weeks, attempting to climb those forty kilometers of cliff.

Even Lin Mu felt a degree of admiration.

The young man had never stopped fighting. Unfortunately determination alone could not overcome everything. According to the villagers, Little Bull possessed incredible strength, but he remained mortal.

He could become tired, he could become hungry, he could become exhausted and eventually his body would reach its limits.

Lin Mu extended his immortal sense deeper into the corpse. The Dantian was completely empty and there was no spiritual energy, no immortal energy, no traces of cultivation whatsoever.

That much matched what the villagers had described.

Yet something immediately caught Lin Mu’s attention.

The absence of Qi.

There was absolutely none. Not even the faint natural traces that ordinary mortals possessed. Every living being naturally contained a small amount of Qi.

Plants had it.

Animals had it.

Mortals had it.

Even corpses usually retained traces after death, yet Little Bull’s body contained nothing.

The emptiness felt unnatural so Lin Mu continued examining the corpse. The deeper he looked, the more convinced he became that the young man had possessed some kind of special physique.

Though much of it had already deteriorated after death, there were still faint signs remaining. His muscles possessed unusual density and his bones were far stronger than those of ordinary mortals. Even the structure of his organs seemed different.

Lin Mu frowned.

"I can tell he had some kind of physique," he said. "But I can’t identify it."

Just as he spoke, Xukong’s voice sounded within his mind.

"Oh?" the spider spoke with clear surprise.

Lin Mu immediately became attentive.

"Senior knows what it is?"

"I do."

There was genuine interest in Xukong’s voice.

"To think I would encounter one here."

Lin Mu waited patiently.

"What physique is it?" he asked.

"The Primordial Titan Vessel Physique," Xukong replied.

Lin Mu repeated the name silently.

It certainly sounded extraordinary.

"The Primordial Titan Vessel Physique?" he asked. Xukong chuckled.

"The villagers calling it divine strength is understandable. Most mortals would never know the truth. Even many immortals would fail to identify it."

The spider paused briefly.

"This physique is among the rarest body cultivation physiques to ever exist. Those born with it possess bodies that naturally seek physical perfection. Their strength grows constantly even without cultivation. Their bones become tougher, their muscles denser, and their vitality greater with age."

Lin Mu’s eyes widened slightly.

That certainly explained Little Bull’s abnormal capabilities.

"How rare is it?" he asked.

"Across all known realms?" Xukong thought for a moment.

"Less than a hundred."

Lin Mu blinked.

"A hundred?"

"Across hundreds of millions of years."

This time even Lin Mu felt surprised.

That number was absurdly small.

Considering the countless worlds scattered throughout existence and the unimaginable number of living beings born every day, less than a hundred individuals may as well have been nonexistent.

No wonder nobody had recognized it.

Even many Celestials might never encounter one during their entire lives.

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