24: Chapter 24 Training at the Bottom of the Pool

Chen Mo walked a circle along the edge of the Deep Pool.

The bank was a gravel beach, the pebbles worn smooth as mirrors by the water flow.

Scattered clumps of waterside ferns and sedge grew on the beach, their roots soaked in the icy pool water, leaves trembling slightly in the mist kicked up by the waterfall.

After finishing the circle, he had a rough idea of the environment within a few hundred meters. Steep rock walls were on all sides; the gorge he had taken to arrive was the only entrance and exit.

There were no claw marks from fierce beasts on the rock walls, and no footprints of any large animals on the ground. This area was too deep and too remote; even wild beasts rarely ventured here.

The only entrance and exit was that narrow gorge, and the narrowest part of the gorge allowed only one person to pass.

Chen Mo stood by the edge of the Deep Pool, looking at the ink-blue water, when he suddenly thought of something.

Water pressure.

The water of this Deep Pool was so dark that the depth was definitely not shallow. If it were deep enough, the water pressure itself would be a natural weight-bearing environment.

Furthermore, the resistance in water is dozens of times that of air; performing any action underwater requires engaging more muscle fibers, consuming more oxygen, and enduring more sustained pressure load.

This continuous, uninterrupted full-body load had a similar effect to Standing Post—the body is continuously torn and then repaired under heavy load—and the water pressure itself could also provide a source of pressure different from self-antagonistic tension.

He had previously tested his limit for holding his breath underwater, which was about three hours.

A three-hour breath-holding ability, combined with the high-pressure environment of the deep water, meant he could conduct long-duration, high-intensity training at the bottom of the pool.

He took off his jacket and pants, leaving only his shorts, took a deep breath, and leapt into the Deep Pool.

The moment he entered the water, the icy water of the Deep Pool enveloped him from all directions. Chen Mo sank straight down, letting gravity carry him toward the bottom of the pool.

He closed his eyes, using perception to replace vision. The tactile sensation of the water flowing over his body surface became a three-dimensional map—the direction of the current, changes in temperature, the increase in depth; all information was clearly presented in his perception.

One meter. Five meters. Ten meters.

The water pressure began to gradually increase. First, it was his eardrums; he could feel the pressure on both sides pressing inward evenly, but this slight pressure was almost negligible to Chen Mo. He moved his jaw slightly, and the internal and external pressure instantly balanced.

Twenty meters. Thirty meters.

The light began to dim. The sunlight leaking down from the surface of the pool could no longer reach this depth; the surrounding water body changed from ink-blue to dark gray, and then to a thick black.

But his perception was unaffected by the light; the contours of the pool bottom were still perfectly clear.

Fifty meters.

The water pressure continued to climb; Chen Mo could feel the water pressure like a pair of invisible hands, slowly wrapping around his body from all directions.

He had never dived before, had never used any diving equipment, and was relying entirely on the single breath stored in his lungs.

Seventy meters. Ninety meters. One hundred meters.

His feet finally touched the bottom of the pool. His feet sank into the soft silt, kicking up a circle of fine mud mist.

He stood there; before him was darkness, he couldn't see his own fingers, but with his perception, he could see the surrounding environment—the pool bottom was covered with fine sand, scattered with rounded gravel, and a few pieces of rotten wood that had been submerged for who knows how many years were half-buried in the silt.

There was nothing unusual at the bottom of the pool. No legendary hidden caves, no gathering of spirit energy particles, no glowing rare treasures or exotic herbs.

It was just the bottom of an ordinary mountain Deep Pool, the same as the bottoms of thousands of other deep mountain pools, with nothing that exceeded common sense.

He moved his body, sensing this unprecedented omnidirectional pressure, yet his heart was exceptionally calm. The water pressure at one hundred meters deep was about ten atmospheres, equivalent to a pressure of ten kilograms per square centimeter.

For his current Physique, this pressure was not fatal, but it would continuously act on the surface of his body, requiring more force for his chest cavity to expand when breathing, thereby increasing the body's load.

He bent over, his hands gripping a stone at the bottom of the pool estimated to weigh about eight hundred kilograms, and held it against his chest. Then he began to walk.

The moment his first foot stepped down, he felt the difference.

The weight of the stone, added to the resistance of the water, added to the omnidirectional pressure of the water, created a triple pressure acting simultaneously on every muscle fiber in his body.

The resistance his quadriceps endured when pushing off the ground was several times that on land; his core abdominal muscles had to continuously contract at high intensity to maintain balance.

After walking about fifty steps, his leg muscles began to heat up. That signal of heat was very familiar—the muscle fibers were experiencing micro-tears under extremely high load, and repair and strengthening were already starting simultaneously.

He could clearly see in his Inner Vision that every muscle fiber in his legs was being rapidly repaired after being overloaded.

Underwater weight-bearing training was different from Standing Post. Standing Post relied on the precise control of autonomous extreme tension between antagonistic muscles, with the advantage of being able to be done at any time and training everything;

while underwater weight-bearing relied on the total pressure composed of water pressure and water resistance, which would push the load of his body's oxygen circulation consumption to the limit.

Twenty minutes later, he felt his body's oxygen supply beginning to run tight. A considerable portion of the oxygen stored in his lungs had already been consumed, and the oxygen demand of his muscles was continuing to climb.

He simply dropped the stone, pushed off with his legs, and shot up from the bottom of the pool.

The speed of ascending was much faster than descending. In less than thirty seconds, he broke through the water surface.

The cold water ran down his hair and face; he breathed in fresh air in large gulps. That feeling of suddenly returning from a high-pressure environment to a low-pressure one made his whole body feel like it had shed a suit of heavy armor.

The soreness in his muscles began to subside the instant they were re-infused with oxygen, replaced by a warm current sweeping through his entire body.

He swam to the shore, braced his hands on the stones to climb up, stepped barefoot onto the gravel beach, shook the water from his hair, and looked down at his arms.

The muscle pump was full and plump; the fascia in his forearms and shoulders was trembling slightly, which was the signal of rapid recovery after being squeezed by high intensity.

The effect was no less than Standing Post. This Deep Pool was a perfect training ground—above the water surface was the rest area, below the water surface was the high-pressure training area, and the distance between the two was only one breath.

The only problem was that every time he finished exercising at the bottom of the pool, he had to spend mental effort and time finding nearby spirit energy particles to complete high-efficiency repair.

He did not waste time, got up and put on his clothes, and returned to his previous campsite at top speed.

From the edge of the pool to the middle section of the gorge and back to that gravel beach, the round-trip distance was not short, but for Chen Mo, it was only a moment's work.

He packed up the tent, re-packed the sleeping bag, equipment box, food cans, and notebook one by one, picked up his mountaineering backpack, and returned along the original path to the source of the Yin River.

Before evening, he had set up his tent again on a flat, high gravel ground next to the Deep Pool.

The terrain here was two or three meters above the water surface and would not be flooded by the pool water that might suddenly rise at night.

Behind him was the rock wall, in front was the Deep Pool, and on both sides were steep mountains. The entire campsite relied only on that single opening of the gorge for entry and exit, making it safe and hidden.

He found a flat, large stone outside the tent to use as a table and spread out his food—peanut oil, glucose powder, and compressed biscuits.

Tonight's supply amount was half more than usual; the day's running around had consumed too much energy, and added to the need for continuous burning during high-intensity training, he had to fill up his energy reserves in advance.

After eating, it was completely dark.

Chen Mo did not rest. He started his first round of Deep Pool training from nightfall, repeating the same cycle: diving, weight-bearing walking, ascending, searching for spirit energy particles to repair, and diving again.

Every round was an extreme pressure on his physical fitness, and every time he came ashore, it was accompanied by the rapid remodeling of his muscle fibers under the infusion of Spiritual Qi.

First round, twenty minutes, limit. Second round, twenty-two minutes, carried for two minutes more than the previous round. Third round, another two minutes more.

His body moved toward faster remodeling between the compression of water pressure and the supplementation of Spiritual Qi; every time he rushed out of the pool water, he could clearly see that the density of micro-repairs being completed in his muscles was much denser than before.

Ten o'clock sharp at night. Chen Mo finished his last round of training, climbed up from the edge of the pool, and lay on the gravel beach, panting heavily.

The cold pool water ran down his back into the crevices of the stones; above his head was the starry sky. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the crisp night air.

Then he summoned the system panel.

Fist Strength: 1003kg. Mental Power: 2.5.

Broken the ton mark.

He lay on the gravel beach, looking at these two numbers, just exhaling a long breath, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly in a faint, imperceptible smile.