On Mount Dayan, which had stood firm upon this earth since antiquity, the towering, thick trees, the tangled underbrush, the layer of decaying fallen leaves blanketing the ground, and the countless wild beasts inhabiting the mountain remained utterly unchanged from four years prior.

It was now early summer, and a humid, stifling heat began to permeate the forests of Mount Dayan.

Without the slightest breeze, the mountain woods felt oppressively close and hot.

“Swish~” A faint rustling sound, the movement of leaves, suddenly broke the silence of the forest, the sound growing steadily louder.

“Hoo!” A silhouette materialized in the distance of the woods; the ground trembled slightly, and the figure had already covered tens of zhang.

This was a young man wearing nothing but shorts, barefoot, and bare-chested. Most terrifyingly, he was hoisting a massive boulder easily twice his own size. The young man’s arms were as thick as an ordinary boy’s thighs, and at this moment, the muscles across them bulged like steel cables, unleashing terrifying strength as he held the stone monolith steady.

Simultaneously, the young man’s powerful legs were frighteningly thick; with every stride, he exerted a terrifying force exceeding ten thousand jin. His feet hammered the earth of the mountain forest, causing the ground to shake, and he sprinted through the woods like this.

He either crushed dead branches underfoot or leaped over dry logs on the ground, yet while carrying such a colossal stone overhead, the young man moved with the agility of an ape, running effortlessly on his bare feet.

After a long while...

“Hoo!” The young man, reminiscent of a prehistoric beast, finally halted his pace and hurled the boulder violently to his side.

“Boom!” The stone carved an arc through the air, slamming down heavily nearby. Branches and weeds were smashed aside, and a deep crater was gouged into the earth where it landed.

Strangely...

The young man’s arms and legs, where every muscle was sharply defined and astonishingly thick, underwent a transformation. Their bulk visibly shrunk, diminishing to the size of those belonging to a normally strong man. They were no longer as ferocious, and even the protruding muscles receded back beneath the skin.

Viewed purely from the surface, one could not detect the heart-stopping musculature lying dormant beneath the skin of his limbs.

“An hour of long-distance running, completed,” Teng Qingshan looked up toward Twin-Headed Mountain. Four years had passed like a single day; during this time, Teng Qingshan had challenged his limits daily. Furthermore, utilizing the clear perception of his Grandmaster realm over every part of his body, he ensured he never pushed past his body’s tolerance to cause injury.

Long-distance running was Teng Qingshan’s daily essential.

Endurance was a critical component of physical conditioning. Secondly, running through the mountains also served to train flexibility. The human body contained countless muscles, and relying solely on mechanical equipment could never train every single one. Focusing too much on strengthening specific muscle groups could even suppress the development of others.

Such imbalances were unacceptable.

Flexibility and speed were qualities Teng Qingshan valued immensely.

The boulder he had just carried weighed fully ten thousand jin. In his previous life, only after reaching the Grandmaster realm could Teng Qingshan lift such a weight. But now... carrying a ten-thousand-jin stone, Teng Qingshan could still run for an hour through the mountains. His stamina, therefore, must be such that he could fight continuously for a day and a night amidst a vast army without suffering ill effects.

Moreover, he maintained the agility of an ape while carrying the weight. If he were to discard the boulder, his flexibility and speed would be unimaginable.

“Hoo!”

Teng Qingshan leaped upward, soaring several zhang high. Then, his hands sometimes gripped and climbed, while his feet kicked off surfaces in rapid succession, propelling him toward the summit of Twin-Headed Mountain with explosive speed, almost as if he were flying. To reach the peak, the hunters of his clan had to follow the winding paths that circled the mountain base—a journey that took a long time.

But Teng Qingshan reached the top in mere moments.

The summit was littered with numerous large stones.

Teng Qingshan suddenly whipped his arm out, striking a massive boulder easily taller than several men. As his hand neared the stone, his arm speed abruptly accelerated, and the rope-like muscles on his arm stood out prominently. With a sharp “Crack!” his arm lashed against the monolith, sounding like a whip striking stone.

Immediately, cracks appeared on the boulder that had stood on the mountaintop for countless years.

“Crack!” “Crack!” “Crack!”...

Teng Qingshan moved with nimble footwork, circling the great stone fluidly, delivering repeated strikes with his arms. Every impact caused the rock to fissure more deeply. He struck it an unknown number of times.

“Thump!” “Thump!”...

The sound changed, for Teng Qingshan now used his legs to attack.

Teng Qingshan alternated between snap kicks and sweeping leg strikes. Shadows of his legs rained down upon the boulder. Each blow caused the stone to shudder, manifesting deep, branching fissures. Large fragments began to break away.

Teng Qingshan suddenly roared, bringing his right fist down hard onto the center of the boulder. With a “Boom,” the spot where his fist landed immediately spiderwebbed with cracks. Simultaneously, he transformed his right fist into a palm against the cracked surface, while his left fist delivered a heavy blow directly into the center of his right palm. This action generated a shockwave that transmitted deep into the stone, causing the fissure-riddled boulder, shedding debris, to collapse completely with a massive sound.

Crush! Large fragments of rock tumbled everywhere.

Shattering stones with his fists and feet presented no difficulty for the current Teng Qingshan. Destroying a monolith taller than several men would likely take a hundred people swinging heavy sledgehammers an incredibly long time to match the speed at which Teng Qingshan could achieve it. In terms of sheer destructive force, Teng Qingshan’s unarmed strikes now far surpassed that of a sledgehammer.

“It’s time for a rest,” Teng Qingshan smiled, leaping directly from the summit toward the base of the mountain.

His body plunged downward at great speed.

“Tap!” “Tap!”...

During the descent, Teng Qingshan occasionally slapped a rock face with his hands or nudged a surface with his feet, regulating his falling speed to remain within his body's tolerable limits. This speed coming down the mountain was truly breathtaking.

Teng Qingshan suddenly pushed off the cliff face and, like a fish, sprang outward, soaring toward the water surface halfway down the slope.

With a splash, Teng Qingshan plunged into the lake, sending water scattering, and then he floated calmly upon the surface.

“Ah, how refreshing.” The biting cold made all his muscles tremble intensely, yet he lay on the lake surface in utter comfort, surprisingly not sinking.

Having trained rigorously on Mount Dayan, the Bihan Pool served as Teng Qingshan’s temporary sanctuary. His pack and clothes were stored nearby. After all, during such intense training, wearing clothing would likely mean having to replace an entire set every day, given the strain. It was simply easier for Teng Qingshan to train in only his shorts.

“This Bihan Pool is truly peculiar,” Teng Qingshan murmured, observing the water. “Its density is slightly higher than human density; a person naturally floats on this surface. It’s just like the Dead Sea from my former world.”

The water in the Bihan Pool was indeed extraordinary.

People naturally rose to the surface within it; the water's density was noticeably greater than that of the human body. Secondly, it maintained an extremely low temperature year-round. Based on his previous life’s experience, Teng Qingshan estimated it was nearly fifty or sixty degrees below zero Celsius. Frost formed around the pool’s edges. Especially now, at the start of summer, while other parts of Mount Dayan were humid and hot, this location was frigidly cold, causing mist to naturally rise from the pool’s perimeter.

That the water did not freeze despite such low temperatures was even more astonishing.

During normal training sessions, the body sweats profusely and becomes hot. To jump directly into a pool near minus sixty degrees Celsius from that state of intense heat—even for Teng Qingshan—was only dared after the second year. This extreme contrast of heat and cold would cause instant muscle spasms and heart failure in an ordinary person due to the immense stress.

When Teng Qingshan was ten, his physical conditioning was already superb, augmented by his internal energy protecting his body. If he had jumped into the cold pool immediately after sweating profusely from exercise back then, while he might not have died instantly, he certainly would have suffered cramps and physiological disruption.

“This hot-cold stimulation also excites the deepest layers of my skin and muscles, accelerating the rate at which my body improves,” Teng Qingshan said, reclining on the water surface. The sub-zero temperatures barely required him to use his internal energy; his skin and muscle structure alone could easily resist such cold. “However, this phase is clearly past the optimal period; the speed of my physical improvement has sharply decelerated.”

He had been carrying out the ‘Strongest Plan’ for four years.

It could almost be said that the peak of the Strongest Plan was over.

This was because the human physiological development period yields the most dramatic progress in the first three years or so. Afterward, while refinement continues, the rate of growth, height, and other advancements begin to decrease significantly.

“Still, the magnitude of improvement over these four years is slightly higher than I had anticipated,” Teng Qingshan reflected on his progress with deep satisfaction.

The fruits of four years of arduous training were astonishing.

Teng Qingshan’s current physical conditioning far surpassed what he possessed even at the Grandmaster realm in his previous life. Now, he estimated that killing Visnu and Shiva would likely require only two moves. His body was the definition of ‘iron sinews and steel bones’ and ‘boundless strength,’ making him a veritable human monster. In his past life, even bullets could not penetrate his skin.

Lifting a boulder weighing tens of thousands of jin was no longer a difficult feat. Of course, straining to carry tens of thousands of jin would push him to his limits; hence, he chose the ten-thousand-jin stone for his long-distance runs.

His fists and feet were harder than steel.

In his former life, Teng Qingshan’s hands could withstand direct confrontation with Dolgotrov’s metallic gauntlets from the ‘Body Crusher’ technique. Now, his strikes were even sharper and more penetrating.

Transported back to his previous world, the current Teng Qingshan would undoubtedly be an invincible entity.

But here, on the continent of Jiuzhou, where spiritual energy abounded, what level would this human monster occupy?

“Living in a world rich with Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, the achievements here are indeed far superior to my past life. Of my meridians, only the fine network across my face remains unopened,” Teng Qingshan mused inwardly. Over the past four years, he had dedicated almost all his energy to physical enhancement, causing the speed of meridian unlocking to slow.

“Once all the meridians are open, I can begin cultivating the Tiger Form Divine Transformation Technique to elevate my physical body once more. In my previous life, the Tiger Form Divine Transformation Technique nearly doubled my physical capabilities in a short time. I wonder what level of effect it will achieve in this world where spiritual energy is so abundant.”

Even though Teng Qingshan’s rate of improvement had slowed now...

He still had the Tiger Form Divine Transformation Technique!

Only when every meridian in the body is clear and unobstructed could the Tiger Form Divine Transformation Technique be practiced.