On the barren, desolate land, a figure clad in leaves zipped forward, leaping four meters in an instant.

With four soft thuds, the figure vanished from its original spot, only to reappear fifty meters away in the blink of an eye! Four soft sounds, equivalent to four seconds, yet covering fifty meters under tenfold gravity—this speed was simply unbelievable!

“Truly monstrous!” A hoarse, aged voice sounded abruptly in the air. “Why has progress been so rapid when the body appears so frail?”

The elder was utterly perplexed. If he hadn’t personally witnessed Chen Feng collapse under the initial onslaught of gravity upon entering this place, he would have suspected Chen Feng had practiced in a high-gravity field long ago.

It wasn't just the elder who was bewildered; Chen Feng himself was astonished. Every time he reached the brink of exhaustion, that strange vortex would surge within him, sweeping away all fatigue and, under its nourishing influence, causing his physical strength to increase exponentially.

What was even stranger was that despite the massive growth in power, the structure of his muscles remained completely unchanged. Chen Feng’s physical strength was now more than ten times what it was a month prior, yet visually, he still possessed that utterly scrawny physique.

“It must be about that strange vortex!” Chen Feng muttered inwardly. Calling that strange vortex a 'vortex' was perhaps an overstatement; it was distinctly dark black, unlike the pale yellow vortex in his Dantian. Its movements were erratic, utterly refusing Chen Feng’s mental command, and it only emerged when his muscles were strained to the absolute limit to repair the damage and restore stamina.

Chen Feng had tried to track the vortex with his consciousness several times, but each time after restoring his stamina, the vortex would flow toward the Dantian and dissipate into thin air, as if it had never been there at all.

“Forget it. As long as it doesn’t harm my body, that’s enough,” Chen Feng finally concluded, refocusing with dedication on his physical training.

He had initially discussed bringing Little Tiger into the dimension with the elder. However, the seal outside the Great Black Gate only permitted those who spoke verses to enter or exit. Furthermore, the elder was now merely a remnant soul, powerless to break the seal. Little Tiger knew magic, but his cultivation was too low—he hadn't even reached the level of a third-tier magical beast, making it impossible for him to unlock it.

After a fruitless effort, Chen Feng instructed Little Tiger to return to the valley and wait. The magical beasts that had been hunting the man and the tiger in the valley had long since dispersed; staying put in the valley, as long as he didn't wander carelessly, was safe enough.

During this past month of cultivating his physique, Chen Feng had intended to return to the valley floor to gather some vegetation fruits for sustenance. But the elder stopped him, instead retrieving a small jade vial from the palm carved onto the statue’s hand.

Inside the vial were several hundred small, perfectly round pills, each one glistening a vibrant crimson.

Whenever hunger struck, the elder would instruct Chen Feng to take a pill. Strange as it was, consuming a pill immediately quelled all sensations of thirst and hunger.

It seemed these hundreds of pills were indeed remarkable treasures. Yet, it was astonishing that, according to the elder, they were already tens of thousands of years old; pills from ten thousand years ago retaining their full effect was truly shocking.

“Ahem, ahem…” The elder’s voice broke the silence. “Chen Feng, pause for a moment!”

Chen Feng quickly ceased his running and stood still, retrieving the third-tier Earth elemental core from his “garb.” “What is it?”

The elder replied, “It seems you have largely adapted to the gravity here. You are a full three times faster than I anticipated. Now, your body has reached another bottleneck. Continuing to run ceaselessly will yield negligible growth to your physique. Therefore, I have devised a method!”

After nearly a month of rigorous training, the intensity of Chen Feng’s body had increased dramatically, but the rate of growth began to diminish, stabilizing almost completely three days prior. Chen Feng had noticed this himself but hadn't given it much thought; everything eventually hit a plateau, which was commonplace.

However, hearing that the elder had a way to help him break through the bottleneck, Chen Feng immediately asked with eagerness, “What method?”

The elder explained, “It is a set of conditioning exercises! Performing them under tenfold gravity has an immensely significant effect on the growth of physical strength. Our people, originally from the Dragon…” He corrected himself smoothly, “Our clan used this very method to temper our physical bodies!”

Through the month of conditioning his physical fitness, Chen Feng had grown fond of this method of body training. Every day, feeling the explosive power of his muscles constantly increasing brought him a joy that nearly made him fly. Hearing now that this method was highly effective for strengthening the body, he was eager to learn it immediately. “Teach me then!”

The elder pondered for a moment. “This set of conditioning exercises consists of seventy-two movements, divided into six sets, with twelve movements per set. The first two sets are relatively simple; with your current physical conditioning, you can manage them barely. We’ll leave the rest for later!”

Before the words finished, the elder suddenly muttered to himself, “The rotating 180-degree flip in the second set seems too difficult; it will likely take three months of practice to execute properly. And the 360-degree bent lateral twist won’t be manageable in under two and a half months… Perhaps I should teach you the first set first!”

He then addressed Chen Feng, “Given the difficulty of the later movements, I will first teach you the twelve movements of the first set. Do not underestimate these twelve movements; the most gifted genius in our clan spent a full half-month just learning to perform them correctly! Even I took a full ten days to master them!”

Chen Feng blinked, startled, as a pale shadow flashed before him, revealing a somewhat gaunt-looking old man standing before his eyes.

“This… you…” Chen Feng was too astonished to speak.

“Ah, I have been resting within the magic core for a month, and I can barely manifest in a soul form before you. However, no one but you can perceive my existence! If you can find a higher-grade magic core for me to nurture my soul in the future, my soul power will grow significantly, but don't even dream of recovering my former strength or restoring a physical body,” the elder said casually.

Chen Feng knew nothing about soul-nurturing via magic cores, only that it was certainly an ability achievable only after reaching a certain cultivation realm. He didn't dwell on it now and simply said, “Then teach me!”

They had spent over a month together, and the elder had consistently refused to divulge his name, hence Chen Feng addressed him as “you.”

The elder nodded. “The movements in the first set are quite numerous, but you must practice them well, as they form the foundation for all subsequent movements. I will perform them once for you to watch, and then you can follow along!”

With that, the elder turned, and a set of utterly bizarre movements flowed from him.

These movements were physically inconceivable; some even exceeded the normal range of human joint motion. Yet, he executed them with fluid grace, showing no sign of stiffness, a clear testament to his profound mastery.

Chen Feng’s eyes widened like saucers, afraid to miss a single detail, his brain whirring as he secretly memorized every motion.

Moments later, the elder stood still, having completed the twelve movements of the conditioning set.

Turning around, the elder saw Chen Feng staring without blinking, fists clenched tightly. He smiled faintly. “Don’t be nervous; this set of conditioning exercises is actually very difficult. When I first performed them, I could only manage seven movements. You only need to achieve two to be considered successful.”

Seeing Chen Feng still hesitating, the elder quickly raised one finger. “Even one movement is fine!”

When Chen Feng remained motionless, the elder assumed he had been discouraged by the apparent difficulty of the high-level movements and worried that he might not be able to execute even one. He quickly added, “In fact, not being able to do even one is quite normal; don’t be too disheartened. How about I perform them again for you? Perhaps I went too fast earlier and you didn't see clearly…”

Chen Feng closed his eyes for a long moment, then let out a long breath, his eyes snapping open as he looked at the elder with utter confusion. “This… this set of movements is really difficult?”

The elder, thinking Chen Feng was making excuses for his inability to perform them, quickly nodded. “Yes, indeed, they are very difficult. For most people, managing one movement is already commendable!”

Hearing this, Chen Feng was even more puzzled. “Difficult? How is that possible?”

With that, he walked up to the elder and executed all twelve movements one after another. His movements were gentle and flowing, with no discernible pauses. Although the transitions between some movements were slightly stiff, the rest were exactly identical to what the elder had just performed…

“This… this…” The expression on the elder’s face was one of sheer stupefaction. After a long silence, he finally managed to utter a single, awe-struck remark: “Are you even human?”

ps: Thank you, brothers and sisters, for your support! Old Cliff sincerely thanks you; we finally broke into the top 15 and made it to the front page—I am ecstatic…

However, it seems the writers behind us are catching up quickly, and two great authors have started new books. Old Cliff doesn’t want to be kicked off the front page right after getting here!! Send those recommendation tickets roaring in again…

This is the third update, and it’s rather late… My apologies! I’ll continue writing another chapter and post it tomorrow morning…