「Three months later.」
The height of summer.
The scorching sun blazed like fire, baking the earth. Across the vast Black Stone Desert, heatwaves rolled like ocean tides.
The basin of the Red Fire Mine was a pockmarked wasteland!
High walls encircled the area, heavily guarded. The ground was densely covered with dark mine shafts, like a honeycomb.
The Mining Slaves, their clothes barely covering them, endured the blistering sun and the Supervisors' whips. With no protective gear, they scurried in and out of the mines like rats, digging and hauling the raw Red Fire Stone.
Deep within a certain mine shaft, inside a hidden underground grotto.
It was dry, dim, and eternally silent.
Inside the grotto, which was fifty zhang in circumference.
The only source of light came from strange, fist-sized stones embedded all over the walls. They emitted a hazy, crimson glow, like a waterfall of blood, making the entire grotto resemble an Asura Ghost Hall.
In the center of the grotto was an Earth Abyss, several zhang wide, with sheer vertical drops and no visible bottom. If an ordinary person were to lean over and look, their heart would pound in their chest and their legs would turn to jelly.
HUFF!
PUFF!
A dull, thunderous breathing sound, filled with a strange rhythm, suddenly echoed through the grotto, shattering the long-held silence.
Before the bottomless abyss!
Wu Dao supported himself on his right fist, his other hand behind his back. Facing the abyss, his tiger-like eyes stared straight into the darkness that seemed to swallow everything. His body was as straight as a spear as he rapidly performed inverted push-ups in a manner that would scare someone with a fear of heights to death.
Under the crimson, ghostly light.
The gaunt, withered body from three months ago was now covered in even, rock-hard muscles. They weren't bulky, but they were lean and powerful, like a black panther in the jungle.
As his right arm lowered and pushed up.
The muscles all over his body, like intertwined steel cables, constantly bulged and tensed. They rippled like dragons and snakes, displaying the most primitive and pure wild beauty.
Along with the increasingly rhythmic, dull breathing.
Wu Dao entered a state of complete focus. His up-and-down movements grew faster and faster, veins popping out all over his body. His heart pounded like a great drum, and his internal organs began to vibrate with the rhythm of his breathing, as if powered by a motor.
HUFF—
PUFF—
After another dozen repetitions.
Wu Dao's face was contorted and savage, like a demon's; he looked completely inhuman.
The endurance of his bones, internal organs, and muscle fibers was being pushed bit by bit to its limit. The frequency of his body's vibrations began to weaken, and his ramrod-straight body started to drift, threatening to fall into the chasm below.
If he were to fall.
What awaited him was certain death—a pulverized body, utterly beyond saving!
In this state of hovering on the edge of death.
Not only did his physical body have to endure terrifying pressure, but it was also extreme torment for his Spiritual Will.
But even facing this situation where he could perish with regret at any moment.
Wu Dao showed no fear or intention of retreating. He just grit his teeth, a strange clarity in his eyes. It was as if the life and death of this body had nothing to do with him; he was terrifyingly calm!
41, 42...
The goal was getting closer.
Wu Dao's pace grew slower and slower. His blood vessels, tendons, and muscles swelled and turned crimson from the vibrations, as if they had been boiled. It looked as though he might explode into a pool of blood and gore at any second.
50!
THUD!
Using his last ounce of strength to control his fall, Wu Dao's heavy body slammed down hard on the edge of the Earth Abyss, kicking up a cloud of dust.
HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...
Lying in the cold, filthy mud, his breaths came out in greedy gasps.
Wu Dao's red, swollen muscles gradually returned to their normal color, and his drumming heart slowly calmed. He narrowed his tiger-like eyes, as if waiting for something.
A few seconds later, a warm spring breeze seemed to blow. The ice and snow melted; bitter hardship gave way to sweet relief. A warm current surged from deep within his sore, burning, and aching body. It rapidly healed his organs and bones and rebuilt his torn muscle fibers. He felt as comfortable as if he had returned to his mother's womb.
Unfortunately.
This process didn't last long.
After a few seconds, the miraculous warm current was completely depleted. His body, which had shown faint signs of rebirth and transformation, unwillingly regressed to its original state.
Wu Dao seemed to have expected this. He showed no disappointment. With a thought, a simple data panel appeared in his mind—
[Physique: Expert (Great Success)]
[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (35% Potential Release)]
[Teleportation Points: None.]
His mind focused on the 35% progress on the panel, which hadn't budged in a month. Wu Dao resentfully licked his dry lips, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
The Essence Devouring Art could hypnotize the brain and unlock the body's protective mechanisms, allowing a person to reach the perfect state of "Subduing the Heart" and "Unity of Heaven and Man."
In this state, one could psychologically and physiologically ignore the threat of death, performing all kinds of extremely dangerous exercises that surpassed human limits without resistance, thereby stimulating and developing the body's dormant potential.
But the core of the Essence Devouring Art was the "Healing Fluid" produced when a person, in a state of extreme exercise, used a special breathing frequency to vibrate the cells and organs throughout their body.
This magical substance, named by Wu Dao, could rapidly repair the bodily tissues damaged after high-intensity exercise.
It rapidly rebuilt muscle fibers, strengthened cells, and forged iron into steel, allowing the body to surpass its limits and undergo a qualitative transformation in a short period.
As for the source of the Healing Fluid...
It wasn't from meditation, absorbing nature's spiritual energy, or taking in the Sun and Moon Essence. It came from the food a person consumed daily.
Yes, food.
The more nutritious the food, the higher the quality and quantity of the Healing Fluid.
In short!
The further one progressed in Human Potential Release, the stronger their physique became, and the higher the quality of food they required!
'The Potential Release after 35% is when the body truly begins to break its limits. But with my current diet, it's impossible to get enough nutrients to produce the Healing Fluid!'
Wu Dao's brow furrowed. The thought of the black potatoes and filthy water he had eaten for three months made him nauseous.
The Red Fire Mine was undoubtedly an illegal, black-market mine.
The Mining Slaves were all pitiful wretches who had been tricked or abducted from various places by the Four Seas Gang. They had no rights or dignity. If they were worked to death or beaten to death, their bodies were simply tossed into the mines. Their lives were cheaper than an ant's!
Under these circumstances, eating well was a fantasy; just getting enough to eat each day was a blessing.
For the past three months.
If not for his ruthless and merciless nature, snatching food from other Mining Slaves every day, he wouldn't even be talking about pushing his physique to its human limit; he would have been lucky not to starve to death.
However, black potatoes and swill were ultimately just dregs, pitifully low in nutrients!
In the early stages of practicing the Essence Devouring Art, Wu Dao could barely scrape by, relying on the rich experience of his previous life.
But now, at the 35% stage, where he needed to break the first shackle of his limits, he had to eat lavish meals of meat and vegetables every day for his body to produce enough Healing Fluid to break through!
Otherwise.
No matter how profound Wu Dao's theoretical knowledge was, even a clever housewife can't cook without rice!
'If I don't truly break my limits, my physique won't transform. I'll remain in the mortal realm, and my chances of escape will be minuscule.'
A dark light flickered in Wu Dao's eyes, a new sense of urgency blooming in his heart.
This world wasn't a simple, quasi-ancient feudal civilization.
He didn't know what the outside world was like; he had too little information and no inherited memories.
Just take the Red Fire Mine, for instance.
Based on Wu Dao's observations, a simple whip-wielding Supervisor had a physique no weaker than his own, which was in the Expert Domain with 35% Potential Release.
The Expert Domain!
Every person in this domain had a comprehensive physical condition comparable to the world-famous strongmen, heavyweight boxing champions, and top athletes from Wu Dao's past life, back before the Essence Devouring Art became widespread!
For a lowly Supervisor to have such an absurd physique!
Not to mention the truly armed guards on the high walls around the mine, or the higher-ups who managed the Red Fire Mine!
This was just the tip of the iceberg!
The terrifying scale of the Extraordinary in this world was plain to see.
For this reason.
Wu Dao had long since shed any arrogance or disdain. He endured in silence, secretly accumulating strength and searching for an opportunity to break the stalemate.
'Difficult, so difficult! Given the guard strength of the Red Fire Mine, unless I unlock 45% of my potential and my physique enters the Beast King Domain—gaining the strength of a tiger and a bear, and the speed of a leopard and an antelope—I have no chance of breaking out by force!'
Wu Dao's mind raced as he ran through various scenarios.
At the same time.
His attention also fell on the strange attribute panel in his Sea of Consciousness—the very thing that had likely given him this second chance at life.
A Golden Finger.
In his past life, before he created the Essence Devouring Art, he had fantasized about such a thing countless times. Now, in this world, it had actually appeared for him.
But how to activate it was a problem that had kept him awake at night for three months, a puzzle with no solution.
'Haaah... If it exists, it must have a use. Perhaps the time just isn't right yet?'
Wu Dao let out a long breath and stopped overthinking it.
His past life experience of single-handedly creating a new technique in the Dharma Decline Era had forged his self-reliant character. If he had external help, he would use it; if not, he would rely on himself. It made no real difference to him.
'In five days, the mine gates will open to transport the raw ore out. If I can sneak into the transport convoy, that might be my chance!'
With a determined glint in his eyes, Wu Dao made his decision. He would no longer waste energy letting his imagination run wild.
He got up and put on his large, filthy, stinking black clothes, concealing his lean, powerful muscles and reverting to his frail, emaciated appearance.
Only then did Wu Dao begin to dig out the raw Red Fire Ore from the grotto walls.
Empowered by his Expert Physique, he hacked, chiseled, and pried with an axe. Sparks flew and metallic clangs echoed through the chamber.
In about ten minutes, his bamboo basket was full.
Wu Dao didn't linger. He immediately crawled out of the grotto, covered the entrance with a stone plate, and then bent over to crawl through the low, dark mine shaft back toward the surface.
He had accidentally discovered the grotto a few days after his rebirth. It contained a large amount of raw Red Fire Ore, allowing him to easily complete his daily mining quota.
Because of this, he had saved a great deal of time, which he used to secretly practice the Essence Devouring Art and strengthen himself.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
CLINK! CLANK! CLINK!
After passing through a low fork in the tunnel, the piercing, clanging sound of metal hitting rock grew louder and more chaotic.
Wu Dao straightened up and looked ahead. In the wide, dark mine tunnel, bean-oil lamps placed at intervals cast a dim, yellow light.
Under the faint light.
The Mining Slaves, their faces numb and their bodies like skinny monkeys, used primitive tools—axes, hammers, chisels, and hoes—to dig like moles into the tunnel walls, searching for the Red Fire Stone hidden within the earth and rock.
CRASH!
Suddenly, the roof of a corner in the mine tunnel behind him collapsed. The miner caught beneath it died instantly, without so much as a cry.
Wu Dao's steps paused.
It wasn't just him.
The mine, which had been filled with constant clanging, abruptly fell into an eerie, deathly silence.
Then.
There was no panic or alarm.
Throughout the mine tunnel.
All that could be seen were pairs of unsettling eyes, like those of starving wolves, fixed intently on the unlucky man's corpse.
This scene.
Reminded Wu Dao of what he had experienced on the night of his rebirth.
GULP~
The sound of swallowing saliva echoed through the darkness.
'In the end, humans are just animals.'
Wu Dao glanced over indifferently, as if he were just watching a pack of hyenas scavenging a corpse. He felt nothing at all as he strode toward the exit.